Lost Light - Isamu's Story
by Nikita Stingray
Summary: A 'patch' over the series Neon Genesis Evangelion to account for a new character - Isamu Fuyutsuki
1. The Arrival

**THE STORY OF ISAMU FUYUTSUKI**

**Part 1 - The Arrival**

_Author's Note:_

_  Hi. Wow, finally I managed to start writing this fan-fic. As you can see, this is part 1 in Isamu's story. This is fan-fic has been rather difficult because unlike most I haven't just used the already constructed characters in the series (e.g. Shinji, Rei, Auska, etc.), but added an entirely new character. Therefore I had to watch all the episodes of NGE again to get all the dialogue and everything, then re-write it with Isamu. I'm not sure how this will all end, Isamu's story is as diverse as my imagination. I have a basic idea what will happen but that may change._

_  To make this work, you will have to allow for some minor corrections to the storyline of NGE. Ryohji Kaji retains his name and surname, but is Cmdr. Fuyutsuki's son. Shigeru Aoba (the guitarist with the long hair) has his surname changed to Fuyutsuki and is also Cmdr. Fuyutsuki's son. This of course means the Cmdr. had to have a wife, so I gave him one - her name is Myung Kaji (where Ryohji's surname comes from). She dies early on in the story (that will be further explained as the story develops). Also, Cmdr. Fuyutsuki's age as of the first episode is 53._

_  If you have any questions or comments please then e-mail me at "just4kix@bigpond.net.au" or my ICQ number is "65514266"._

_  So without further due, here it is - Isamu's Story_

_  Enjoy!_

_-Adin Knight 15/4/00._

**Part 1 - The Arrival.**

_This is set between episodes 8 and 9 sometime._

As Isamu Fuyutsuki sat on the train heading to Tokyo-3 the full force of the situation really hit him. His eyes lit up even more than they already were, almost illuminating the compartment he was riding in.

  _I can't believe this! I'm really going to see an EVA!_

  He had first learnt of the EVA series a couple of months ago, when he read a news article about the battles in Tokyo-3. From there he had 'acquired' more data and eventually learned of the existence of EVA's.

  And how he had dreamt of them, an actual dream come to life! How he had wanted to be a pilot! Just to see and touch one - to touch his dream  - would be so fantastic it would blow his mind. His excitement was almost a visible substance  - an aura - around him.

  At first he was upset. He got the letter he had been dreading for 2 years:

  _..........you are required to relocate........_

  That single sentence was almost enough to kill him - it was his father once again moving him to another place.

  And away from his friends - again.

  Why? Why did his father have to do it - destroy all that Isamu had created? He lost all his friends, which he treated like family since he hadn't seen his real family for....... how long ? He couldn't remember. There were so many spaces in his memory.

  But, when he had recovered and read on, what he read had changed his mood as dramatically as the first announcement.

  _..........you'll be coming to Tokyo-3, and living at home with me._

He was going home.

  Home! Back home! To Father!

  At first he couldn't believe it - he re-read the letter time and time again. He really was going home.

  _I'll see them all again! Father, Kaji and Shigeru._

  He'd missed his family so much. He'd been away for so long.

  _Maybe............nah, she'll have grown up and gone somewhere else. Probably still in Germany........._

He still didn't know why his father moved him. But no matter what pain it caused him, Isamu never could be angry at his father. He just couldn't. His father always kept in touch, always asking how Isamu was and if he had any friends.

  He was always interested in knowing how all Isamu's relationships were, and Isamu never understood why. He had asked Ryohji and Shigeru but they didn't know either.

  _............maybe you'll be able to come to NERV and see the EVA's._

Those few words almost caused him to explode. He'd get to SEE AN EVA! He might even get to meet the infamous pilots he learnt so much about - especially Shinji Ikari. How he'd idolised Shinji.........

  He shifted on his seat as he dazedly watched the landscape fly past . So many thoughts and emotions flooded through his mind.

  "Next city - Tokyo-3. Stopping at all stations."

  The train speaker made him jump as he woke from his daze. 

  He was almost there.......

"The 4th child arrives today" Misato Katsuragi casually remarked to Ritsuko Akagi as they lounged about in the cafeteria they frequented between shifts.

  "Hmmmmmm" Ritsuko replied into her coffee, "Wonder what he or she will be like."

  "Hopefully not like Asuka" Misato sniggered just loud enough for her Ritsuko to hear and affirm with a chuckle. "Anyway, EVA-3 will be arriving in a week, so you might want to prepare."

  "He'll....."

"......be here soon."

  Commander Fuyutsuki replaced the phone's handset and looked up at his superior whom had taken his familiar pose at his desk.

  "Good."

"Last stop Tokyo-3 Central Station."

   As Isamu got off the train he suddenly realised he absolutely no idea what to do. His father had said nothing about being directed at the station in the letter, so Isamu assumed that he would be there to collect him. But, looking around, Isamu could not see him.

  _Maybe he's had plastic surgery and looks like a 20 year old. Or a woman! What about a 20 year old woman?!_

He smiled at the thought.

  _"Oh hi Dad.....uh....I mean Mum, or uh........"_

"Heh heh heh."

  Isamu was so busy in thought and chuckling he failed to notice the tall man in dark glasses and a dark suit approach him.

  "Are you Isamu Fuyutsuki?". Isamu literally jumped.

  "Uh.....yeah" he stammered.

  "Come with us" he ordered in a very intimidating way, motioning towards the station entrances and the similarly clad mean nearby.

  Later in the NERV briefing room the children were assembled along with Misato, Kaji (whom Misato was keeping her distance from) and Maya Ibuki  whom was busy off to the side at a terminal.

  "What are we here for anyway?!" Asuka whined, a sound which had really started to become the bane of Shinji's existence.

  "I think they're bringing the new pilot in" Shinji replied in a soothing way.

  "Well they better hurry, I've got better things to do than stand around here!"

  Shinji and Misato sighed simultaneously, and exchanged a rather shocked glance ending with Misato smiling and winking and Shinji blushing.

  _Maybe we do think alike......_ Shinji reflected, but his thoughts were interrupted by Commander Fuyutsuki's entrance into the room.

  "I'd like to introduce the 4th child," he began, getting straight to the point.

  _So the 4th child is here........ _Shinji exclaimed inwardly.

  "Isamu....."

  At the moment the Commander began to announce his name, a boy about Shinji's height walked, rather dejectedly (like he'd just received some devastating information) through the doorway the Commander had entered through. The first thing Shinji noticed was the most predominant thing about him - his hair. It was bright red, with a fringe covering the right half of his face and the rest of his hair (which must have been quite long) pulled back into a pony-tail which sat very high on the back of his head.

  Shinji also noted he was rather slender, which combined with the boy's hair reminded him of a fox.

  As he entered the doorway and the Commander pronounced his name, he raised his head to reveal a face with striking blue eyes, which gave the impression that at the moment he was in shock or his mind was on holidays. But the first thing he saw made his expressions change so dramatically it was like another person had taken his place.

  "Misato?!"

  "Isamu?!"

  At this both  Isamu and Misato leapt forward and collided in a huge embrace. Tears were streaming down both faces (Isamu had to jump up to make it a proper embrace since he was abit shorter than Misato).

  "I thought I'd never see you again."

  "So did I."

This continued for about 2 minutes until the Commander gave a polite cough, which caused both Misato and Isamu to regain some dignity and let go of each other. But as soon as Isamu hit the floor the next person he saw caused him to lose it again.

  "Ryohji!"

  "Hello Isamu."

  Once again Isamu launched himself, this time almost knocking Ryohji Kaji back into the wall.

  "Uh, sorry," Isamu apologised, letting go. "Still hanging around with this loser, Misato?" he directed to Misato while still looking slyly at Kaji. "Heh heh."

  "Hmmm........." was all Misato could muster, shifting her gaze to Kaji who returned it by mimicking a kiss. She gave him a forlorn look then turned back to Isamu. "It's been awhile."

  "Too long." With this Isamu turned to Commander Fuyutsuki and gave a small bow accompanied by a courteous "sir".

  "Welcome, Isamu."

  Misato now called his attention, "And these are your fellow pilots....". She motioned towards the 3 pilots who now stood stupefied due to the recent happenings but snapped back to reality when Misato called attention to them. So many questions were going through Shinji's mind, but he shut them away for later.

  Misato began to introduce them. "This is......"

  "Asuka Langley Soryu!" Asuka said, leaping forward and grabbing Isamu's hand, shaking it vigorously. 

  _She's making her intentions pretty obvious, _thought Shinji in quiet disgust.

  "Ah, Asuka - yes, I've heard of you," Isamu began.

  _Oh no......._

  "Oh well, when you're a great as me, it happens that people talk about you," Asuka cut him off, looking very superior.

  "Hmmmm.........A woman who's beauty is only matched by the size of her ego," and with this said, moved on, leaving Auska stunned.

  Misato took control again, "And this is the First Child......"

  As she said this, Isamu's eyes met Rei's and he froze.

  ".........Rei Ayanami."

  They just stood there eye to eye.

  _It looks as if he's seen a ghost,_ thought Shinji, noting Isamu's expression. After a couple of minutes, Isamu seemed to tear himself away.

  "And this is........" Misato continued as Isamu moved to the last pilot.

  "Shinji Ikari," concluded Isamu as they met face to face, a face Shinji felt he'd seen before. This was followed by silence, one which frightened Shinji since Isamu's face was now one of.......of........It looked like sincere hate, and evil. It scared him.

  "I have something to ask you, Shinji," Isamu said as he reached behind his back.

  _His eyes......_

  Shinji expected him to take out a gun and point it at Shinji.

  _They're so bright, so........familiar._

  When Isamu swung around with the pen and book, Shinji almost ducked for cover. "Can I have your autograph?"

  "W - what?!" Shinji stuttered in disbelieve.

  "Can I have your autograph?" Isamu repeated.

  "S - sure," Shinji forced out and signed the book.

  "Oh, thankyou so much. You don't know how much this means to me." At this Isamu grabbed Shinji's hand and began to shake it so hard Shinji almost lost his balance. "Thankyou sooooo much. You're the best Shinji! I wanna be just like you. I wish I was an EVA pilot! Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou....."

  "You _are_ an EVA pilot," said his father rather impatiently.

  "No, I'm not. You're just being nice," Isamu retorted in a semi-hopeful way.

  "No, you _really are _and EVA pilot, Isamu!" Misato  included.

  "But - I can't be! I'm not like these guys. They're better than me!"

  This, of course, pleased Asuka. "Yeah, we're - or I'm - much better than him. He's a nothing."

  "Shut up Auska!" bellowed Misato, after which Asuka began to sulk again.

  "We're just like you, Isamu," Shinji said, moving forward. "We go to school, we have homes, we have families." Shinji quickly re-considered the last point and added a "sort of."

  "Really? You mean it."

  "Yes."

  "Really?"

  "Yes." Shinji was starting to become impatient.

  "Wow.......I think I'm going to be sick."

  "Why?"

  "Becasue I've never been SO EXCITED IN MY LIFE!!" Isamu yelled the newest pilot and began to run and jump around the room, to the amazement of everyone except his father.

  "Isamu! Keep your composure!" He bellowed.

  "Oh - sorry."

Later as Misato was driving Misato was driving Shinji and Asuka home, she asked them what they thought of the 4th child.

  "He was a jerk!" screeched Asuka, and continued to sulk.

  "Oh, I don't know - you seemed pretty interested in him Asuka, I saw you checking him out," Misato teased.

  "Hmph!" was all she got in reply.

  "Shinji?" Misato continued turning to look at him for a moment, then turning back to the road.

  "He was........neat. He seemed nice."

  "He is," Misato seemed to say to no one in particular, in a somewhat dreamy state.

  "You two know each other from before, don't you?" Shinji queried her. Misato gave a chuckle, then began her story.

  "I met him when I was in university. He was only 5 when I met him. His mother died when he was 3. He was quiet at first - didn't trust me. But after along after a long while we became best friends. We told each other everything. I took care of him alot since his father was at work a lot. We were very close."

  "But when he was 8 his father moved him to Germany. It was one of the saddest days of my life. I lost one of my best friends that day. We tried to keep in touch but NERV got in the way and eventually I got moved away. I never saw him again." Shinji noticed she was almost crying. This made him feel like crying, and he could hear Asuka sniffling behind him.

  "Until now........" Misato broke into smile again, exclaiming "I'm so happy to see him again!" Then in a more subdued manner said to Shinji "He really seems to like you."

  Shinji seemed to be deep in concentration and mumbled "Yeah......"

  _There was another question I had to ask! What was it? I can't remember. Ah - I'll remember later._

Meanwhile back at NERV, Isamu was having difficulty expressing his feelings.

  "It is very good to see you again Father," he finally managed to force out.

  "It is good to see you too, my son."

  _Somehow I doubt that, _Isamu thought irritably._ You always tried to push me away. Why? Am I only here because you have a use for me now?_

"Where are we going now?" Isamu asked, trying to hide his feelings. They had been taking a tour of the facility for the last 2 hours.

  "Central Command," came the reply. They had barely spoken during the tour.

  "Is that where the MAGI are?" he asked, flaunting his knowledge of something he knew he wasn't supposed to know about.  It caused the Commander to startle. He looked at Isamu, stunned.

  "H - how do you know about the MA......." Isamu gave him a look that explained it and he desisted. He retook his earlier stance. A sombre look came over his face. "Just like your mother - 'fanatically inquisitive' I used to call her - she just had to know everything, it was impossible to keep a secret from her." His face was one of happy reminiscence. Isamu stared at him - he'd hardly ever heard speak of his mother. He himself had only brief memories from his early childhood. Though he knew one thing - his Father had loved her.

  Just then the portal their escalator had been approaching opened with a 'fwoosh' knocking Isamu from his thoughts. It discharged them into a corridor with a single elevator. The Commander pressed the button to summon the car, then they stood and waited for what seemed to Isamu like an uncomfortable eternity.

  As they entered Central Command one thing - or rather one person - caught Isamu's immediate attention. It wasn't the super-intelligent MAGI he'd dreamed of seeing, the massive view screen, or the attractive woman operating one of the terminals - it was the man playing an air guitar in front of the coffee machine.

  "Shigeru!"

  The man looked up and a huge smile appeared on his face. "Isamu!"

  They ran together and collided in a huge embrace. To Isamu it was almost too much - he felt so many emotions at once - he didn't know whether to laugh of cry. Shigeru put him down and they stared at each other. Shigeru ruffled his younger brother's hair in a familiar way. "You certainly have grown haven't you, little brother?" After a pause he added "We've all really missed you."

  "I've missed you all too." Isamu replied and hugged Shigeru around the waist. Shigeru patted him on the head.

  The Commander gave another one of those polite coughs.

  "Talk later," Shigeru said, turning to go back to work.

  "Ok. See you later," Isamu replied. He watched his older brother go, then turned back to his father. "Sorry Father."

  Commander Fuyutsuki actually laughed at this. "It's ok Isamu. It's been along time." With this an uncomfortable silence settled over them. The Commander knew what Isamu was thinking - it was his fault he hadn't seen them for a long time. He decided to ignore it - he had done  what was required, he wasn't going to have this argument with himself again. "Now this is Central Command," he continued, sweeping his arm in a circular motion towards the view screen, "Here all aspects of the battle are monitored."

  Isamu knew what he was trying to do, but le it go. "Wow........" he drawled, trying to sound more impressed than he really was. "What's this bum doing in an important place like this?" he teased walking over to where Shigeru had returned to. "He should be cleaning toilets!"

  Makoto chuckled, and Shigeru raised his fist and gave Isamu the finger, making Isamu laugh. "Heh heh.....and who's this?" he enquired, shifting his attention to Maya who was busy at her post. He sauntered up to her in a way very reminiscent of Kaji. "Hey baby....."

  Maya gazed up at him, dumbfounded, but before she could reply or Isamu make another move, a familiar voice rang out from above.

  "You haven't change abit, have you?"

  "Heh heh, not a bit Ritsu." He looked up and gave her a naughty smile, "I see you are as beautiful as ever."

  "Haven't changed a damn bit....." she sighed, smiling, and walked away from the edge of the command balcony.

  "Mmm-mmmmmm.......she is so fine!" squealed Isamu, hopping about.

  "Oh brother........" sighed Shigeru in an exasperated way - to which Isamu promptly replied "Yes?" in a clipped smartass way. This resulted is Shigeru grabbing him in a headlock and 'noogying' his younger brother, whom obviously didn't enjoy it.

  "Ah! You bastard! I'll get you for this!" he squeaked, struggling to get away. Both Maya and Makoto were having hysterics, as were some other personnel watching the display. The Commander didn't look too impressed though.

  "Are you two quite finished?!" he bellowed. Isamu and Shigeru both stood to attention, simultaneously barking "Sorry, sir!"

  "You - back to your post," he ordered, looking at Shigeru. Shigeru saluted and darted back to his chair. "And you - follow me. You're getting out of here before you cause any more trouble," he finished, glaring at Isamu. Isamu gulped nervously - it felt weird being yelled after all these years. 

  The Commander turned to leave and Isamu followed him. He turned back to look at Shigeru. "See you later, Brother!"

  "Later," replied Shigeru, watching him go. He sat back down and looked down to his terminal, thinking. "So we're all back together again," he said to himself, then went back to work.

  As they approached the waiting car Isamu noticed that someone was in the driver's seat. He turned to his side where his father had been to find no one. Upon turning all the way to look behind him he found his father had stopped about 2 metres behind him. The Commander could obviously tell what Isamu was thinking from his son's expression.

  "Ryohji will take you home. I have work to do. I will see you later."

  Isamu visibly sank in mood.

  "I should have suspected. You never change." he said, looking at his feet, then walked over to the car and climbed in.

  "Don't look so happy to see me," Kaji offered in a light-hearted way.

  "I'm sorry......" Isamu began, but Kaji cut him off by placing his hand on Isamu's shoulder and saying "It's ok." He reversed the car out of the park and headed for the rail-car to the surface.

  The Commander watched them go, sighed, and headed back to the elevator.

  "You know - you shouldn't think too harshly of Father. He has a very important job to do," Kaji said after they'd been in the rail car for awhile in silence.

  Isamu sighed "I know" in a depressed way, shifting his gaze from his feet to the out side the window. His face lit up in wonder. "Jee-zus this place is big!" he exclaimed, then realised he was trying to avoid the subject. He sank back down in his seat. "I just feel he doesn't care about me. I'm just a weight left over from a family that's now non-existent from a long time ago."

  Kaji put his arm around his brother's shoulders and lowered his face to look into Isamu's. "Hey - I know it's been hard for you, but he does care for you. You know what he's like - he's not a very open person. Ever since Mother died he's been very insular. It's like she was the bridge that allowed him to talk to us." This it was the elder brother who looked at the window, reminiscing out a time he thought he'd forgotten. "Just remember - he does care for you."

  "Ha! You're the last person I'd expect to say that considering how well you get along with him," Isamu quipped, then looked at Kaji who wasn't smiling anymore. "Sorry."

  "It's ok, though, no matter how badly we get along, he is still my father and I love him, and I know he loves  us both as his sons." Kaji tried to smile again after this to make it more reassuring, but he found it difficult.

  "Yeah.........but I do know one thing. I'm only here because he has a use for me now." Isamu replied soberly.

  Kaji sighed, giving up. It was because he knew that what Isamu said was true. But he knew more about the situation than his brother did.

  _He cares more about you then you could understand._

  When Isamu first opened the door to his father's home, he was totally shocked - by how much it was how he had expected, and remembered. The long bookshelves overflowing with books, the paintings lining the walls and the plants everywhere. And, of course, everything was meticulously neat and tidy - just as he remembered.

  He had a strange feeling about this memory -  as if he had seen this house at another time, through someone else's eyes, like in a dream.

  He dismissed these thoughts and wandered down the corridor to his old room. It was just as he had left it years ago, waiting for him to come home and fulfil the purpose for which he was born to do. He laughed at this thought. _Maybe I am being too harsh on Father._

  He dropped his two items of baggage on the floor, a suitcase and a longer case, thin at one end and wide at the other. He lay down on his old bed, then realised it wasn't his old bed. That bed would have been far too small for him now, and it had been replaced by one the right size. He lay on it with his hands behind his head, and sighed loudly. The flood of emotions he had expected did not come  - puzzling him. He felt at home, like he was meant to be here. He had expected to feel alienated from this place, he didn't even really consider it home. All the years of moving had taught him that home was where your head rested in the present. He had lost all pretence of a place you belonged to, but being here he felt it again. A part of him was confused, part of him was happy.

  He tried to take his mind off the situation. "Better unpack. Hope he bought the stuff I asked for," he murmured to himself and sat up, stretched and got to his feet. "If those damn baggage handlers damage any of this stuff, heads'll roll," he said to no one in particular as he picked up the suitcase and began unzipping it.

  "Ah, my dear friend," he said as he extracted a rather battered, dirty computer. Over the years it had accumulated a lot of stickers, notes and other such things. Amazingly it activated when Isamu turned it on. He smiled mischievously . "Yes!"

  After a few minutes checking it, he deactivated the notebook and placed it on a shelf next to his bed. He reached back into the suitcase and pulled out a multitude of audio disks. "Ah, music - my other retreat from a sometimes harsh reality," he almost seemed to mock himself.

  After placing these next to the notebook, he knelt down to pick up the other case. He carried it back to his bed and placed it on it. He unzipped the zipper running the length of it cautiously. When it was fully open he reached inside and slowly withdrew an electric guitar. Unlike his other treasured possessions it was in a beautiful state - clean and polished to perfection.

  He sat down and placed it in his lap, then realised he'd forgotten something. "Whoops, need a pick don't I?" He lay the guitar back on it's case and searched through the case, finally his hand emerging with a packet full of plectrums. He search through it with his fingers until he found the one he wanted, and again sat back down, reaching over to pick the guitar again. He strummed a few chords to check the tuning. "Beautiful as always," he complimented.

  After a few minutes playing he placed it back in it's cover, then sat back down in thought. 

"Hmmmm........what to do........what to do........" he thought out loud. Then he smiled and snapped his fingers. "I know, I'll ring Misato!" he exclaimed. He jumped up and ran down the corridor into the living room. He feverishly began to search for a telephone. "For the love of God, where is it? Does he even have one?" he yelled, knocking over a pot-plant. "Damn plants, why does he have so many anyway?!" he fumed, bending down to right it. He had never liked plants, yet part of him enjoyed their 'company'........something he didn't understand.

  "Ahha!" he announced triumphantly, holding up the phone like a trophy, "I have you now!" He sat himself down on the couch and retrieved a piece of paper Misato had slipped him. On it was written a phone number and _Ring me!_ .He keyed in the number, raised the handset to his ear and waited.

  At Misato Katsuragi's apartment, the 'family' was sitting down to dinner.

  "Gee, this is rare - all of us at dinner together," Misato commented cheerfully. In fact, Shinji noted, she had been overly cheerful all afternoon.

  When she received no reply, Misato looked hurt. "Well don't everyone chat in a happy, lively manner or anything!" she exclaimed, desperately trying to induce some sociality in the group.

  "Ok" quipped Asuka cheekily. She had been sulking all afternoon. 

  Shinji choked on his food., he was expecting a fight. He looked at Misato to see her return the salvo with an outburst, but to his surprise she just smiled. She looked down at her dinner.

  "I should have expected such from you Asuka," she retorted calmly and still smiling. "Just because you got shown up...."

  "THAT BASTARD DIDN'T SHOW ME UP!!!" Asuka screamed, jumping to her feet. Misato just gave her a look to say _You just proved my point. _Asuka regained her composure and sat back down. "I was just shocked by how rude he was - no manners."

  This made Misato chuckle quietly.

  _Asuka's so proud, anyone who crosses her is likely to end up dead! I'm sure Isamu will be fine though, he's always been very resilient. It's so good to see him again...._

  Just then the phone rang, making Misato rouse from her dozing state. Asuka regained her usual character as she jumped up to answer it. "It'll probably be for me," she sang, smiling. "It's probably Kaji wondering if I'll go out with him!"

  _You wish_ Shinji thought, but dared not say it out loud. He'd been verbally dissected by Asuka before.

  She reached the phone and raised the handset to her ear, greeting the caller with a "Heh-lo?" in her German accent. "Who is it?"

  Shinji watched on in shocked curiosity as Asuka's smiling face morphed into a red face with clenched teeth. Suddenly she let fly with "You Bastard!! I swear the next time I see you I'm going to kill you!! How dare you call me egotistical!!" then slammed the phone back down. She just stood there fuming.

  Misato couldn't help herself.

  "Who was that?"

  "Ugh!" screeched the 2nd child and stormed off to her room and slammed the door.

  Misato watched her go then turned to Shinji, who looked back at her with very wide eyes. Then he smiled and said something totally unexpected. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" This totally took Misato by surprise, but she laughed in spite of herself. "Heeh heeh - I wasn't expecting that from you, Shinji" giggled the hideously-immature adult. "Anyway, you can't talk - you haven't exactly been Mr. Conversation tonight."

  "I was thinking about him, the 4th child."

  "What about him?" Misato asked seriously.

  "Just what he's like, if we'll be friends and other stuff." Shinji looked worried. Misato patted him on the back to reassure him.

  "It'll be ok. He's a really nice boy and so are you. He already seems to like you alot." she told him. Shinji looked up at her and smiled weakly. She smiled back.

  And the phone rang again, spoiling the moment.

  "That'll be him again," Misato said, rising to answer it. Shinji looked at his plate - it was still quite full. He still hadn't got used to Misato's 'cooking'. Thankfully she didn't make dinner often. He didn't want to offend her by saying he didn't like it or that he was full since he thought she'd be able to tell her didn't like it.

  While she was distracted he quickly took the plates to wash. He gave his to Pen-pen who took one look and ran away.

  "Hello?" Misato sung in the familiar fashion once she got hold of the telephone.

  "Hello, Miss Katsuragi? This is the Japanese Lottery Commission. We'd like to inform you that you have won tonight's ¥10 million." came a rather strange, muffled voice.

  "That's rather surprising Isamu since I don't buy  lottery tickets anymore," Misato teased him.

  The voice suddenly unmuffled. "Ah -  You're no fun!"

  "I see you're still a cheeky boy.  You haven't changed have you?" She was desperately wanting him to say _no._

  "Nope," he joked, then realised she was being serious. "Are you glad?"

  Misato remained quiet in thought for a moment, but then her mouth broke into a grin and she told "I'll probably regret this later, but yeah."

  "Aw, ain't that sweet - ya still love after all these years!" Isamu drawled in a mock-caring way, but then his tone changed to serious but caring. "I never forgot you. Everywhere he sent me, I always remembered my first true friend. It's been so long." His sounds were starting to become all blubbery, like he was crying.

  "Isamu, are you crying?" Misato asked.

  "No," A lie. Misato realised that tears were flowing down her cheeks too. She looked around to see if Shinji or Asuka were still about, but they were elsewhere.

  "I missed you too, Squirt," she sobbed happily, "I missed you so much," and collapsed on the couch, half laughing and half crying. They both continued until Isamu to re-establish some dignity in the pair.

  "Listen  to us - You, an adult, and me, a young adult bawling our eyes out." This sent Misato into a laughing frenzy. "What?" Isamu queried her, feeling as if he'd said something wrong.

  "A - young adult?!" Misato crowed, rolling about, laughing rapturously.  "You're an immature 14 year old!"

  "Well ex-cuse me!" Isamu retorted, trying to hide his hurt feelings. "I see you're as kind, caring and considerate as you were before."

  Misato began to pull herself back together, "I'm sorry. I bet you're as mature as always."

  "Oh gee, thanks! That really fixed things up!" Isamu whined.

  "Oh, shut up. So what have you been doing the last few years?"

  "Well," he began, trying to make it sound extremely dramatic, "I spent the first 3 years in Germany...." but Misato cut him off.

  "I went to Germany 3 years after you left! I knew he sent you there! I looked for you everywhere, but you had already left. I wonder, did he move you because he knew I was coming to NERV 2nd Branch?

  "Why would he do that?"

  Misato paused in thought. "I don't know," was all she could offer.

  Isamu continued. "Well - anyway, I went to school there for the 2 ears in Munich. Then I got a letter from Father saying I had to move to Moscow. No reasons just an order."

  "I had to learn a whole new language, make new friends, start afresh. It was terrible having to leave it all behind - again. But, I learnt Russian pretty quickly and made new friends so it got better. I stayed there for bit over a year, then he moved me to Los Angeles. So, again I started from scratch - met new people and learnt a new language."

  "I stayed there for another year, the he sent me back to Munich again, where I lived until two days ago. Now I'm here in Tokyo-3, back in Japan."

  "Wow," Misato answered thoughtfully, after a short delay. "You really travelled."

  "I sure did." Isamu started to inflate his ego.

  "Isamu...." Misato finally managed to collect her thoughts.

  "Yes?"

  "Have you ever found out why he moved you?" This made Isamu's ego crumble.

  "No." This was followed by another pause. Isamu didn't like this line of thought.

  "You said he sent you back to Munich about half a year ago?" Misato requested.

  "Yes"

  "That's when I came back here to Tokyo-3."

  This peaked Isamu's curiosity. "Weird," he murmured. "Probably just coincidence. Though....."

  "Though what?"

  "Shigeru once told me thought Father moved me because he was afraid that I might be where the Angels attacked. Did you notice that all the cities I lived in have branches of NERV nearby? Of course, he just said that something bad might happen, but once I learnt of the existence of Angels I knew what he meant."

  "Now I wonder how you learnt that," Misato said, mimicking curiosity.

  "Oh, just a few snippets of information I gathered here and there," Isamu replied mocking her and they both chuckled.  Misato could hear a ruckus in the living room. 

  "It's my turn to watch the telly!" she could hear Asuka yelling.

  "You've been watching it all afternoon! It's my turn!" Shinji defended.

  Misato sighed. "I gotta go break those two up before they destroy the place and each other. Do you have my address?"

  "Yeah. I might drop round tomorrow, ok?"

  "Sure. Cya, short-stuff!"

  "Bye!" Isamu farewelled, and Misato hung up and went to sort out the other two. Pen-pen waddled after her looking for something to drink.

  Isamu hung up the phone and went into the kitchen to try and rustle up something edible. Leaving a minute later with enough food for a banquet, he headed for his room commenting "A small snack....."

  The next morning Isamu awoke to find his father still home. As he walked in a semi-awake state into the lounge room, he found his father preparing to leave. Kohzoh looked at him blankly, and told him just as blankly "Ryohji is coming to pick you up at 12:30 to get you. Be ready." Then he walked out the front door, leaving Isamu standing with a rather confused face, lost for words.

  "Well good morning to you too."

  Later, Isamu stood outside a large apartment block looking at piece of paper. He looked up to the block, then back to the paper again. He hummed thoughtfully.  

  "53," he murmured, looking back up at the apartment block, "This must be the place." With that he proceeded towards the entrance. Inside, he entered the single elevator, pressed the button for the right floor and waited as the doors closed. He arrived at the desired floor and walked down to Misato's apartment. There was a note on the door.

  _Had to go to work, sorry. Love - Misato._

"Bloody hell!" Isamu exclaimed once he'd read it, then stormed off back to the elevator.

  Misato squirmed in her seat as the car sped on towards where ever her and Kaji happened to be going.

  "Where are we going?" she hissed at him.

  "To the school," came the reply.

  "Don't be a smartass. The school is the other way. Where are we really going?"

  "To the school," Kaji replied, turning to her with a huge grin. It  disappeared rather quickly when he saw her expression. "After we pick up someone."

  Misato looked out the window. She expected something like that from Ryohji Kaji.  "No doubt some girl you picked at some night club, looking for a good time." She had no idea why she had accepted a lift from him. "Why are you going to the school anyway?"

  "I have to drop someone off."

  "Who?"

  "You'll see."

  "I hate that about you!" she yelled at him, then realised what she'd said. She quickly turned to look out the window again, hiding her red face, muttering "Can't ever get a straight answer."

  Ryohji smiled, happy to hear it. He turned a corner and began to decelerate, eventually coming to a halt outside a house with rather attractive gardens. He beeped the horn to let whoever was inside know he was there. Misato continued to stare out of the window. She heard a door close and hurried footsteps approach the car. Then a familiar voice welcomed Kaji. "Hey ugly - ooh........is this your woman? Gee, great knockers!" Kaji put his head in his hand, and Misato turned, gathering breath to scream at whoever it was, but the air flew out of her when she saw who it was.

  "So this is work is it?"

  "I'm sorry Isamu, but I had some really important things to do in town. I don't get many days off," Misato once again apologised to a sulking Isamu.

  "I said it's ok," he replied, though she could tell by the way he said it that it wasn't.

  "This is all your fault!" she snarled at Ryohji, who looked shocked.

  "How?!" he exclaimed.

  "I don't know, but everything is always somehow your fault." This made Isamu begin to laugh hysterically.

  "And what's so funny?" Misato queried angrily, turning her steely gaze to him.

  "It's - just that - you two sound like a - a married couple!" he managed to blurt out.

  Misato turned to look at the driver, who smiled smugly. He put his arm around her shoulders. "Well ain't that cute?"

  Misato threw his arm off her, growling "Don't touch me," then went back to looking out the window.

  Isamu continued to try and control himself in the back seat. He managed to clamp his mouth shut for a moment, then burst out laughing again. Misato groaned.

  "Oh shutup."

  "Hey, it's that babe!" someone yelled out. Toji dropped everything and leapt from his seat, accompanied by Kensuke, then every boy in class as they rushed to the windows. Every one was crammed with boys. They drooled at the sight of Misato emerging from the car. Shinji stood with Toji and Kensuke, unamused.

  Asuka gave them a disgusted look, shook her head then took a quick peek outside. She leapt up and screamed "And Kaji!" which sent  all the girls running for the few remaining spaces around the windows, which resulted in fights breaking out.

  Shinji looked to his side him at Rei. She just stared through her terminal.

  "Who's that with them?" someone called as a shorter person clambered out of the car. It resolved itself into a child, a boy, with a most unusual hairstyle.

  "Oh no...." groaned Asuka.

  "It's that Isamu guy," Shinji thought out-loud.

  "Who?" asked Kensuke, hearing him. 

  "Isamu - the 4th child."

  "Not another one," moaned Toji, "We already have enough of you freaks here."

  Isamu looked up at the crowd. He spotted Shinji and waved. Shinji waved back shyly. As Isamu looked up, he showed the visible side of his face. At this sight all the women let out a simultaneous gasp.

  "What a hunk!"

  "What a babe!"

  "I saw him first!"

  "No, I did!" and with that multiple quarrels broke out among them, except Asuka who along with the men looked on in bewilderment.

  Shinji looked to where Rei's seat was and was extremely surprised to find it empty. He was even more surprised to find her staring out the window at Isamu among the other children. This knocked him speechless.

  Hikari sat in her seat looking yearningly at Toji.

  As the bell rang, signalling the beginning of lunch-time, Shinji felt the usual relief of being released from his studies. As he walked from the classroom Kensuke and Toji ran to catch up with him.

  "Hey Shinji! Wait up!" Kensuke yelled, catching Shinji across the shoulders with his arm. Toji was trying desperately to prise his wallet from his bag. "Dammit!" It came loose suddenly and flung him back, landing on his behind with an "Umph!"

  "Are you quite finished clowning around?" Asuka demanded, who's way he was blocking.

  "No, I have to get my other wallet out now," he replied, grinning fiendishly at her.

  "Hmph!" She walked around him. Hikari followed her, looking apologetically at Toji. Toji watched her leave, feeling...... strange, then realised Shinji and Kensuke had left without him. He ran to catch them.

  As Shinji walked down the corridor - accompanied by Kensuke, who chatted away to Shinji though Shinji wasn't listening - he caught sight of Rei ahead of him. He stared at her, unable to focus on anything else. She transfixed him. What was it about her that attracted him? He felt so strongly for her. He could stare for ever.......

  "Hey, you!"

  .......Until Asuka came along with her habit of always ruining the moment. Shinji sighed irritably and said "What do you want?"

  "Hey! Don't take that tone with me! If you had given me my money before school like you were supposed to I wouldn't be asking now!"

  "But you were asleep, and I would've been late," he offered apologetically. 

  "Then you should've woken me!"

  "But you would've yelled at me...."

_  .....like you are now...... _He realised it was a lose-lose situation so he just handed her the money hoping she'd let it be.

  "Now, don't let it happen again!" she warned, snatching the money from him and striding off. Kensuke stood motionless watching the whole episode. Shinji was about to take his anger out on him for not helping when a familiar voice arose from behind him.

  "Shinji, Shinji - you're revealing yourself to further and further from my expectations."

  Shinji spun round to find Isamu looking at him, smiling. "How's it going?"

  Shinji felt he should've been insulted, but he felt calm. It seemed to exist in an aura around Isamu. When he was near him he felt so relaxed.

  "Uh - hi Isamu," he replied snapping back to reality. He walked towards the newest pilot, smiling.

  Isamu's smile grew larger, more pleasant, as Shinji approached him, with a curious Kensuke in tow. Down the hall, Toji spotted them and ran towards them, wondering why they weren't headed to the cafeteria.

  "So, you're coming to school here?" Shinji asked Isamu.

  "Yeah, if it's ok?" This question caught Shinji completely by surprise and his mind stumbled over it.

  "O - of course it is!" he forced out, giving Isamu a surprised look. Just then Toji arrived, panting loudly. He stood with his hands on his knees and his head raised, looking at the newcomer.

  "Who's this?" he asked Shinji.

  Shinji realised he'd totally forgotten about the other two. "Oh, this is Toji Suzaharra......" he introduced, waving his hand towards the still recuperating Toji, who gave a "Hi," and a small wave.

  "Hello," replied Isamu, still smiling warmly.

  "......and this Kensuke Aida," Shinji concluded, waving his hand to Kensuke who pushed his glasses up his nose, and waved.

  "Hiya!"

  "Nice to meet you," Isamu replied, then turned to Shinji. "Are these your friends?"

  "Yes."

  "Well a friend of yours is a friend of mine," Isamu responded and  leapt forward and grabbed Toji's hand and shaking it energetically, then doing the same to Kensuke. "I'm so excited!"

  "Hee hee." All 4 of them turned at this combined giggle. They found it originated from a group of girls huddling down the corridor, watching them. When the boys spotted them they turned and fled.

  "Seems like you've already got a fan club," Kensuke cynically remarked to Isamu, who blushed.

  "Huh - yeah," he guffawed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. They all shared a chuckle.

  Shinji looked at him and smiled.

  _Maybe this'll be fun after all._


	2. EVA-03

THE STORY OF ISAMU FUYUTSUKI

Part 2 – EVA-03

_Author's note – _

_  Here is the second instalment in my fan-fic. I haven't had anyone read the first part yet so I'm still waiting to see if anyone likes it, otherwise this may never be read anyway._

_  Just something I wanted to point out – I put a strong influence in this part on Shinji's shyness, since his habit of bottling up his emotions and not talking to people is very strange to Isamu since he is very social and has not trouble explaining how he feels. He enjoys talking things over with people, such as Misato, Shigeru, Ritsuko or Ryohji._

_  Also, these first two parts give the impression that Isamu is the main character. It's important to realise that __he isn't. __Where as there are the three main characters (Shinji, Asuka and Rei), Isamu is more like Misato, a secondary character yet still important (you will see just how in later instalments)._

_  That was actually one of the reasons for this fan-fic – I felt that some of the characters are left out, and there isn't much insight in them, such as Maya, Shigeru, and Makoto and to a lesser extent, Commander Fuyutsuki (who gets a bit more attention than the other three in _TheBirth of NERV_)_

_   Another thing to keep in mind is that since Isamu has EVA-03 then all the other EVA's after that in the series will have to have an extra one added to their number (so Tohji's EVA-03 will become EVA-04 and the EVA-04 that get's destroyed in America will be EVA-05, etc.)_

_  So, to rap up, any comments or suggestions or __anything_, _please e-mail me at mailto:just4kix@bigpond.net.au or contact me on my ICQ number which is 65514266. I'm currently trying to draw Isamu too! It isn't easy though as I don't have those anime artist skills!_

_  Anyway, thanks_

_  Adin Knight, 13 - 7 – 2000_

_Oh, yeah – you may also find some references and quotes from some of my favourite anime. This is just me being sentimental. : )_

Part 2 – EVA-03

_A week after Part 1._

"I've got a surprise for you," Misato said smiling broadly to her to her young friend who stood before her.

  "What is it?" Isamu asked, cocking his head to one side in curiosity.  This made Misato grin even wider.

  "If I told you it wouldn't be surprise, would it?" she informed him.

  He smiled back at her. "No, I guess it wouldn't."

  She walked towards the door, and then turned to look at him again. "Come on," she instructed, tipping her head towards the doorway, then she headed out, the door opening with a "whoosh" before her. Isamu ran to catch up with her. He had only visited NERV twice in the week he'd been in Tokyo-3, so he wasn't used to the layout yet.

  She led him down to the EVA cages. He was unusually quiet, Misato noted, obviously anxious.

  Isamu had seen the EVA cages on his first visit to NERV, and he knew what was kept there.

  _Is it here? Oh boy, oh boy!_

  His anxiety was giving way to excitement as they finally walked out of the dark corridor into the vast, brightly – lit EVA cages. Ritsuko was standing at the end of the corridor. She smiled at Isamu as they approached.

  "Congratulations, Isamu," She said to him to him.

  Isamu continued to walk as he replied looking at her with a puzzled face. "What for?" he asked, but the next thing he saw when he rounded the corner answered his question.

  His knees collapsed from under hi, leaving him kneeling in front of his EVA-03. He made a few gasping noises, his mouth moving like a fishes, his mind doing somersaults.

  "Well?" Misato began in a very sultry way with her left eyebrow raised, "Waddya think?"

  "This finally knocked Isamu's mind into gear. "Huh? Oh – yeah! It's excellent!" he cried, jumping to his feet and running up to the restraint bridge across EVA-03's chest. He stared at it for a second then began to jump about.

  Ritsuko walked up to stand beside Misato who was watching the performance. She laughed "I think we've created a monster." Misato giggled, and turned to give her a reply when something latched onto her hand and began to drag her towards the new EVA.

  "Misato, lookit! Lookit!" Isamu squealed, finally releasing her when they arrived in front of it. Ritsuko laughed loudly. "Isn't it wonderful?" Isamu beamed, his pride overflowing. Misato realised she hadn't had a good look at EVA-03 yet. She turned her gaze from Isamu to it. It was almost entirely black, except for its fingers, parts of its legs and chest, and the tips of its shoulder extensions, which were yellow and red.

  "...Alphonse," drifted into her mind from a sense she had disregarded for a moment.

  "Pardon Isamu?"

  "I said, I think I'll call him Alphonse," Isamu repeated jubilantly. Misato paused for a moment. Where did she know that name? It finally came back to her.

  "That's not after..." she began, but Isamu finished it.

  "Yep – that teddy-bear you bought me for my 4th birthday. I still have it with me. I kept it with me so I'd always remember you." His eyes were getting all misty. Misato realised hers were too. She bent down and hugged him. Ritsuko watched on, happy to see the two of them together again. She walked over to join them. Misato looked at her and whispered to Isamu just loud enough for Ritsuko to hear too. "Now how about one for Ritsu?"

  Isamu's head shot up and he released Misato, bounded up to Ritsuko and hugged her around the waste. She simply stood there for a moment, unsure what to do. Then she smiled and lifted him up so he could hug her round the shoulders. After a moment she put him back down. He smiled at her, and then ran back over to Alphonse. 

  "I wasn't expecting that from you," Misato told her when he had gone. Ritsuko smiled at her then looked at Isamu.

  "He's the closest thing I ever had to a son," she said reflectively. Misato looked at her surprised, but Ritsuko's thoughts had turned back to a time years ago. __

_  If only you understood....._

  "I never realised you felt that way."

  Ritsuko realised she said more than she should have and decided to try and rationalise her previous statement. "Oh, come now," she replied sternly, "We were all he had for ages."

  This time it was Misato who looked at Isamu. "Yeah...."

  "Besides, he's so cute!" Ritsuko concluded, and Misato laughed.

  The sound of someone choking behind them caused them both to spin around. They found Asuka poking her finger down her throat to indicate her disagreement, and Shinji looking at them innocently.

  Misato ignored Asuka and smiled at Shinji. "Hello Shinji."

  "Hello Misato. Hello Dr. Akagi." 

  Ritsuko nodded to Shinji. "Hello Shinji."

  The scene was disturbed when a sudden outcry burst from behind Ritsuko and Misato.

  "Shinji!!" Isamu yelled upon noticing his friend's appearance. Shinji looked at him as Isamu bounded up and grabbed his hands and began to dance Shinji around. "It's here! It's here!" Isamu repeated over and over while Shinji tried to keep up with him. Misato, Ritsuko and Asuka watched on in bemusement. A rather irritated voice exploded from behind them, startling all present.

  "ISAMU!"

  Commander Fuyutsuki was obviously not impressed with his son's conduct, as was evident in his voice. Isamu knew who it was immediately and snapped to attention, releasing Shinji who went sprawling. Isamu winced in his direction as a means of apologising.

  The Commander grit his teeth. "Please try and remain dignified. Here's your plug suit." He threw Isamu the package with surprising force. Isamu caught it across his gut with an "Oomph!" The Commander glared at him for a moment and then walked away. Isamu watched him go, now with a frown on his face. Misato looked at him.

  "Not much fun, is he?" she said, sympathetically.

  "Nah. But he is my father, and I respect him," Isamu replied, still watching his father until he disappeared from sight. Then he looked down at the bundle he cradled in his arms. His face lit up again and he looked up at Misato, his eyes full of hope. She could tell what he wanted. She didn't want him to try it on since it needed to be clean for tomorrow.

  She sighed.

  "Ok, you can try it on."

  "Yippee!" Isamu burst out and ran off to the change rooms. Ritsuko approached Misato again.

  Misato sighed again. "I'm sorry, I know you wanted it clean for tomorrow." Ritsuko laughed and placed a reaffirming hand on Misato's shoulder.

  "It's ok, neither of us could ever say no to him."

  "Oh listen to you two drooling over that little twerp!" Asuka screeched, desiring attention. She turned to look at EVA-03. "It's nowhere near as nice as my EVA-02."

  Misato decided she didn't have the energy to argue, so she just agreed. "Yes, Asuka." This infuriated Asuka who wanted a confrontation.

  "Well it is!"

  Ritsuko decided she'd had enough. "Asuka?"

  "What?!"

  "Shut up." This knocked Asuka shell-shocked. She just gulped a few incomprehensible phrases – "Well I.....you.....I'll.....Ugh!" and walked to the far end of the restraint and began to sulk. "Hmph!"

  Ritsuko looked at Misato and whispered "How do you put up with her at home?"

  "I really don't know....." Misato replied blankly, staring into nothing. Ritsuko looked at Shinji who had been standing silently next to them the whole time. She smiled a warm smile and ruffled his hair.

  "I guess it's because you have Mr. Big Tough-guy  here." Shinji smiled shyly back.

  Misato watched Ritsuko in amazement. She had never been like this before. Was she starting to regret not having children? She couldn't, her work had always been the most important thing to her.....

  "Tada!" called Isamu from behind them, and all three turned to see him standing with his plug-suit on, presenting himself with arms outstretched. His suit was identical to his EVA. "Waddaya think?" he asked the group.

  Misato rubbed her chin and said thoughtfully "Not bad....not bad...."

  Shinji simply said "That's nice Isamu." Isamu grinned at him then turned to Ritsuko, his grin now a rather sly one.

  "Well Ritsu? What do you think of my hot body?" he said, striking a rather eloquent pose. Ritsuko put her hand to her forehead in an exasperated way and Misato laughed. Isamu flexed his 'muscles'.

  "Heh heh, I'm dead sexy."

  "Oh no" Ritsuko sighed while Misato rolled about laughing outrageously. Isamu gave her a funny look.

  "Ok Misato – it's not that funny," he tried to calm her but she went on laughing. After a while she calmed down enough to speak.

  "You're still a funny guy, Isamu," she complimented him, resting her arm on his shoulder to support herself like a drunk.

  "Thanks, Misato."

  Ritsuko was about to make a comment when the loudspeakers overhead crackled to life announcing _"Dr. Akagi, Dr. Akagi – Please report to MAGI maintenance centre immediately. Repeat – Dr. Akagi please report to MAGI maintenance."_

  "Gotta go," Ritsuko confirmed to the party and turned to leave.

  "Bye Ritsu."

  "Bye Dr. Akagi."

  "Cya, beautiful." This last one made her stop for a moment, but she couldn't think of a clever retort so she continued off to the MAGI. When she had gone, Misato looked down to find Isamu was playing with his suit and Shinji had walked over to look at EVA-03. She left Isamu to his tinkering and approached Shinji.

  He must've heard her coming.

  "It doesn't look very friendly," he told her.

  "Another EVA would think it does," she replied looking up into Alphonse's face. _It's true, it does look a little evil. But how can you define evil?_

  Asuka's scream knocked her from such melancholy thoughts. "What the hell are you looking at?!"

  Misato span around to find her glaring at Isamu who had a smirk on his face. "At you," he said plainly and honestly. The dress Asuka was wearing didn't leave much to the imagination, so she yanked it down to try and cover as much as possible, while her face had gone bright red.

  "How dare you! You pervert!" she screamed. Isamu remained cool and calm.

  "What is wrong with looking at someone?" Isamu pointed out innocently. "When I talk to Misato, do I not look at her? Does she become offended?"

  "No," Asuka snapped, "but you were looking at me differently." Isamu looked down at the ground and placed his hands on his hips.

  "How can I look at you differently? I can not look at you with my eyes shut." He raised his face to look at her, knowing he'd beaten her.

  Asuka growled loudly and raised her arms to pounce on him, but a familiar voice rang out from above, stopping her.

  "Temper, temper Asuka.  That's not very ladylike," Ryohji Kaji teased her from up on the catwalk. The group looked up at him. Asuka tried to rescue her pride.

  "K – Kaji? Oh, I was just trying to instil some responsibility and maturity into this boy, she explained to him, waving a hand towards Isamu, who smiled. Asuka tried to sound as mature and intellectual as she could, "But, alas, I can not. He is just a boy."

  Kaji laughed out loud and, mimicking her, said "Isamu? Responsible? Mature? Surely you jest!"

  Isamu poked his tongue into his cheek. "Oh and this is coming from Mr. Mature himself, Ryohji?" Kaji poked his tongue out at him then turned his attention to Misato. He gave her a huge grin. She looked less than impressed and turned tot he children.

  "I'm going back to Central Command," she told them flatly then turned to leave.

  "Bye Misato," – Shinji.

  "Goodbye Misato," Asuka teased her, feeling she'd won the fight and Kaji.

  "Goodbye lovely Misato," Isamu finished. He always made her smile. Once she was gone, he looked back up to his brother. "What are you still doing here?"

  Ryohji just smiled and walked away. Asuka ran past Shinji and Isamu after him, yelling "No Kaji – come back!"

  Isamu watched her go and sighed. "Man, she's pathetic." Shinji didn't reply. Isamu looked at him. "Got the hots for her have you?"

  Shinji swung around sharply. "N – no!"

  "Ooh! Shinji loves Asuka! Shinji loves Asuka!" Isamu teased him. Shinji faced away from him.

  "I do not! Why are you teasing me?!"

  "Heh heh, Misato was right – you get all worked up." Shinji looked up into Isamu's face in disbelief.

  "W – what?"

  Isamu rolled his eyebrows and walked away. "Nothing." But Shinji had heard what he said. He walked over to stand beside Isamu who had stopped in front of EVA-03.

  "You're very close to her, aren't you?" he asked Isamu soberly.

  "So are you, when you want to be," Isamu replied, "though she is more a big sister to me. To you she's more of a surrogate mother."

  Shinji's mind digested this. Misato had become a sort of mother – he felt close to her. He looked up at Alphonse. "Do you remember your mother?"

  This made Isamu smile. "How did you know?"

  "Just a guess."

  Isamu looked at Shinji, his eyes open wide. "You are very perceptive."

  "No he isn't," Asuka scowled, appearing behind them, "All pilots don't have mothers, it seems." Isamu hummed thoughtfully then looked back up at his EVA.

  Shinji hadn't moved at all.

  "What about your father? What is he like?" he asked Isamu, who span around in surprise.

  "Y – you don't know who my father is?" he staggered out, not believing it. "You really don't?"

  Shinji shook his head. Isamu gawked at him, then turned to Asuka. "Do you?"

  "Should I?" she reversed the question, haughtily.

  "Yes!" Isamu yelled incredulously, "Ok – ok, we'll try it this way; what is my surname?" He looked between the two of them, waiting for a response. "Well?"

  "We don't know!" Asuka snapped at Isamu's persistence.

  "Well I'm just hurt!" he snapped back, "Really hurt."

  "We're sorry Isamu. It's just that when the Commander went to say your name last week, you saw Misato and....." Shinji explained soothingly.

  Isamu smiled and put his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "It's ok. My name is Isamu Fuyutsuki. Ring a bell?"

  Shinji shook his head. Isamu sighed loudly and threw his arms in the air, giving up. He walked away a short distance and stopped.

  _I never give up._

  "What is the name of the computer operator in central command with long hair?" he asked, still with his back to them. When he received no reply he turned to look at them. "Well?"

  They both shrugged.

  "I don't believe this!" cried Isamu in a mix of disbelief and irritation. "I've been here for a week and I already know more people than you two. His name is Shigeru Fuyutsuki." He looked at Shinji and Asuka, awaiting a response. Shinji was the first to do so.

  "Is he your father?"

  "W – what?! He's 25 years old! He would've been 11 when I was born! No – he is my brother."

  Asuka and Shinji let out a simultaneous "Oh."

  Isamu raised his hand with his index finger pointed towards the ceiling. "That's not all – what is Kaji's name? His full name?"

  Asuka jumped at this. "Ryohji Kaji!"

  "Correct," Isamu confirmed, "Kaji was my mother's maiden name." He blew on his nails (which were actually covered by his plug suit), attempting to look posh and superior.

  Asuka rubbed her chin in thought, then snapped her fingers thinking she'd found the answer. "Is he your father?"

  Isamu looked at her in a very moronic way. "Did you get stupidity lessons or were you born this way?" He is 31! He would've been only 17 when I was born! And where would I have got my surname from?! No – he is also my brother."

  Once again the announcement was met by a double "Oh."

  Isamu walked back over to Shinji and bent over on his toes to place his face directly in front of Shinji's. "Now Shinji, are you listening?" he enquired in the same way a teacher would to her pupil. "Who is the Vice-Commander here at NERV?"

  "Commander Fuyutsuki," Shinji said, cowering back as if Isamu was about to strike him.

  He jumped when Isamu let out a loud "Cor-rect!", then jumping about in a small circle.

  Asuka held her chin in her hand, deep in thought. Isamu appraised her. He mimicked his earlier teacher-pupil tone. "And what are you thinking about?"

  She looked up at him.

  "So is he your brother?"

  Isamu's patience was just about finished.

  "You're just doing this to annoy me, aren't you?"

  Asuka looked into his face, not knowing what to say. She felt herself moving towards his face, she felt herself wanting to k.....

  "Moron," Isamu commented, turning and walking away. Auska remained there, frozen in the action, witless. She shook herself back to reality. She felt like screaming at him, or grabbing him and finishing what they'd begun, but she didn't know which. So she did what came by instinct to her – she sulked.

  Shinji, meanwhile, had been oblivious to the goings on. He stood staring at EVA-03. Somehow it seemed familiar. Not how it looked but something else.....

  Isamu returned to stand beside him. He had only known him a week, but already he felt comfortable with Isamu. He felt like he knew he could trust him when they first met a week ago. Something in his soul, something deep inside him, told him. He hadn't many friends, apart from Kensuke and Tohji. He hadn't gone to school before coming to Tokyo-3. But he felt immediately safe with Isamu.

  Isamu seemed to read his thoughts.

  "Do you like me Shinji?" he asked sombrely.

  Shinji was unsure how to answer so he just said "Yes."

  "Do you think we will be friends?" Isamu continued, looking at into Alphonse's face.

  "I hope so," Shinji responded, trying to sound reassuring for his own benefit. He hadn't talked 'heart-to-heart' with anyone before, and he had thought he didn't want to. But he felt glad now.

  Isamu finally looked him in the face, and smiled a smile that made Shinji feel completely at calm.

  "I would like that," Isamu concluded and offered his hand to Shinji. Shinji took it, and Isamu shook it then crossed their palms, holding Shinji's thumb.

  In Munich, my friends and I used to do this. It was our special handshake.

  Shinji smiled back – a calm honest smile.

  "Well, well – if it isn't Wonder Girl," Asuka rejoiced false heartedly.

  Isamu and Shinji both turned in her direction, to find Asuka glowering at Rei whom had appeared at the same portal Misato had exited from. She seemed to be looking at EVA-03. Isamu, Shinji and Asuka all stared on in silence.

  After a moment she advanced towards the group, arriving in front of Isamu. She stared flatly into his eyes, like she was looking into his mind. Isamu simply remained motionless, not knowing what to say or do. She remained there for what seemed like hours to him, after which she pushed past Shinji to stand before Alphonse on the edge of the restraint arm. Asuka motioned to push her off but Shinji stopped her, and a fight erupted.

  Isamu ignored them, and approached what consumed his attention – Rei. His mind had erupted into a flurry of memories and emotions; all moving so fast he couldn't isolate a sing one to study it – just as had happened when he first met her a week ago.

  Standing beside her, he had no idea how to continue. _Should I talk to her? She seems quite unresponsive....._

  "Um – hi," he opened an invitation for conversation.

  She remained still, not uttering a word. Isamu tried another tactic.

  "I guess he's nowhere near as good as EVA-00, huh?" he joked attempting to appeal to her ego - if she possessed one. But the smile trickled off his face when he still received no response.

  _God dammit! Where's your charm, Isamu?! What the hell is wrong with you?!_

  "Well, I..." he began afresh, but Rei turned to look at him and when her eyes caught his all thought dissolved inside him. All he could do was stare into those eyes.....

  "She's missed you," Rei said unemotionally. It jolted Isamu's mind back into gear with a lurch.

  "Huh?"

  "She's missed you," she repeated, her words slicing through his brain like knives through hot butter, each one carving a maze, and filling them with things he thought he'd forgotten. Her eyes pierced his soul like spotlights through a mist of uncertainty, and one thing repeated in his head like ripples on a pond – 

  _Mother....._

  Rei left him frozen like a statue, his understanding resonating into a picture which shattered before he could consciously take hold of it – it's pieces disappearing as quickly as they had formed – melting into an ocean that ebbed and flowed with the beating of a heart that was filled with blood that wasn't hi own.

  _Mother....._

  Someone he knew more than he relised about – someone whom had been cordoned off in his memory by guards of fear and pain.

  _Mother....._

  Shinji looked at his new friend, who stood rigid.

  _What's wrong with him? What did she say?_

He had noticed Rei leaving after Asuka stormed off away leaving his head ringing from her abuse.

  _What is it with those two? Are they in love?_ A touch of jealousy peaked at Shinji's mind, but all his prior experiences with Rei made it seem impossible. But there was so much he didn't know about either of them.

  _Have they met before?_

  He approached Isamu, who made no reaction. "What did you say to her?" he inquired casually.

  Isamu slowly came back to reality, dragging his consciousness kicking and screaming from the depths of his mentality.

  "I – I don't know."

  That evening, Shinji asked Misato something, that had been puzzling him all afternoon.

  "Misato?"

  "Yes, Shinji?" She responded, but continued tinkering with the car's radio. It blurbled and fuzzed as she played with the dials on it, frustrating her. She thumped it and was pleased when it began to play. "Ah, that's better. Now," she turned to Shinji, "what's on your mind?"

  "Has Isamu ever said anything about Rei before? Have they ever met before this week?" he asked her concernedly, looking out the window at the Geo-Front which rapidly sank from sight as the rail car rose to the surface.

  Misato engaged the rusted mechanism of her mind – which didn't generally stray beyond what she was wearing, what she going to wear, sex and drinking beer – and processed the question.

  "No," she announced after a considerable pause. "No, I don't remember them meeting before or him mentioning Rei before. Why?"

  "Do you remember when we were all first introduced last week?"

  "Yes," she said, grinning. It was a day she would never forget.

  "Do you remember how they reacted when they met?" This made her realise she had noted that, but not payed much attention since she had been watching Ryohji Kaji perving on Maya Ibuki's ass. She hadn't given it any thought.

  She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe they've got the hots for each other," she offered. Shinji gave her a look that said _you know that's not it_. She gave him a reassuring grin. "I'm sure we'll find out eventually. Don't worry about it."

  Shinji still felt troubled but relented for now. He didn't want a fuss. He smiled weakly back to her.

  "Yeah, I guess."

  "Yeah, that was damn funny," Shigeru laughed.

  "It took us ages to get him clean," Ryohji reminisced, standing with his brother in front of the coffee maker in NERV's Control Centre.

  "That kid," Shigeru continued, "he was always the mischievous one. Always getting on Dad's nerves....."

  Kaji smiled at the memories, but it quickly vanished when Kohzoh Fuyutsuki approached. Kaji turned away to look off at the main view-screen. Shigeru's smile also dissipated when he noticed the Commander's approach, but he snapped to attention unlike his brother.

  "Sir!" he saluted.

  "Lieutenant, have you finished the reports on EVA-01's battery status?" the Commander inquired tonelessly.

  _Never let family get in the way of work, _Ryohji though bitterly.

  "Yes, sir," Shigeru responded in a voice similar to his father's.

  "May I have it?" the Commander requested, motioning with his hand. Shigeru felt a fool. Ryohji noticed how he had adopted the same attitude as their father.

  _When at NERV, we are family only by name. Ha  - even outside NERV. I wish Mother was here......damn you Father!_

Shigeru handed the Commander a data-disk. The Commander accepted it with a "Thankyou, Lieutenant," scowled at Kaji then walked away.

  Kaji relaxed but Shigeru tensed up.

  "What is with you?!" he exclaimed, commanding everyone's attention. He realised his mistake and apologised. "Uh, sorry everyone." Maya stared at him a moment longer and he tried to avoid her gaze.

  Ryohji Kaji had seized the chance to escape, but Shigeru spotted and confronted him before he could reach the doorway.

  "Well?" Shuigeru demanded.

  "Well what?" Kaji replied in the innocent way he always did, which highly irritated Shigeru.

  "Don't give that bullshit!" he whispered as loudly as a whisper could be. He didn't have the ability to tame his temper that Kaji possessed and it was showing. "What the hell is going on between you and Father? Ever since you got back you two have either been at each other's throats or avoiding each other. What the frigging hell has happened?!"

  Kaji motioned to reply, but Shigeru cut him off by pointing his finger directly at Kaji's face. "And don't you dare tell me I'm imagining t. I've heard that enough over the years from both of you."

  Ryohji looked at him sternly. He knew the seriousness of the situation and that Shigeru wouldn't let him avoid it. "I'm sorry my brother, but I can't tell you."

  "Why the hell can't you?! I'm your god-damn brother!" Shigeru's whisper had grown to a yell again, so he lowered it's volume. He rephrased. "Why can't you tell me?"

  "I'm sorry but it is between Father and myself – I can't tell you anything else. When the time is right you will understand," Ryohji told him, then left, leaving Shigeru standing by himself.

  Maya approached him from behind and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. He turned to look into her innocent, caring eyes. "Shigeru, what's wrong?" she asked, her petite voice full of worry.

  "I – I don't know."

  Isamu flopped down onto his bed and tried to process the thoughts that were spinning around in his head like a whirlpool. But all the thoughts shared one thing in common. They were all about one thing.

  _Ayanami._

  Ever since he had met – no – been introduced to her a week ago, one thing had been on his mind, and seeing her again today had heightened the feeling.

  _ I know her_

  He had seen it in her eyes, that solid recognition. How many times had he seen those eyes before? He knew the answers were locked away in the forbidden parts of his memory_._

  His own mind – forbidden.

  Why?

  _To hide something._

Who?

  _Father._

  And what of that which Rei had said earlier?

  _"She's missed you."_

_  Who has missed me? _Isamu screamed internally, hoping that it might unshackle some sort of lock in his brain, so he would see everything clearly.

  But it didn't, and he was left as puzzled as ever with a headache.

  He reached up for his walkman. "I've gotta try and get this out of my mind," he thought out loud. But music couldn't help push it away – it crept back to plague him.

  _Mother. Father. Rei. Friends. Brothers. EVA._

_  EVA._

The word stuck in his consciousness, finally bringing a sort of stability. But why? What was so important about it? Sure, he was supposed to save the world in it (according to everyone at NERV) but he hadn't even piloted it.

  _She's missed you._

  "No! Dammit!" he cried irritably as his mind sank back into chaos. "I've got to talk to someone."

  And there was one person he had always turned to.

  Misato was peeved when the phone rang. She felt she might finally be making some connection to Shinji, as he smiled at her across the table.

  "Damn phone," she groaned, rising to pick it up. But she leant back to confront Shinji and instructed him to "Hold that thought," then she continued over to the phone.

  "Hello, Katsuragi residence," she chimed upon raising the earpiece to her ear, attempting to disguise her irritation.

  "Hi Misato," cam Isamu's unhappy voice. Upon hearing it Misato brightened up.

  "Isamu! What's wrong?"

  "I need to talk to you about something," he began. He didn't feel particularly inclined to talk over the phone. But he couldn't just invite himself over.

  "Well, why don't you come over?" she invited. She hadn't seen him all week, and Asuka was out.

  Isamu's mood changed to the positive.

  "Really? Can I?"

  "Nah, I'm just asking for my health. Of course you can!" Misato giggled, acting very childish. Isamu was just as excited on the other end.

  "Ok, ok," he squealed excitedly. "I'll be there soon." And before Misato could say anything else he hung up. She went to say something before she realised what had happened, but realised and hung up the phone.

  "Shinji, is there enough for 3 for dinner?" she asked her younger lodger – a wide smile creeping across her face.

  "Uh, yeah – why? Is Asuka coming home from her date?" he replied, a little intrigued.

  "Nope, Isamu's coming over," she told him giddily. To this Shinji had no idea what to do or say. Misato noticed his troubled expression.

  _Damn, I should have asked Shinji first _she cursed inwardly. "I'm sorry Shinji. Though I'm sure you'll get along just fine. He likes you a lot."

  Shinji managed a weak smile, and she ruffled his hair.

  "Ah! Here it is!" Isamu exclaimed upon finding the door with the plaque reading "M. Katsuragi." He gave an energetic knock – then hid around the corner.

  He heard the door open for a few seconds, then close. He chuckled deviously, then crept over and knocked again.

  Back in his hiding space, he heard the door open again. But the closing he had expected did not occur, so he peered round the corner – to find Misato glaring at him.

  He gave her a huge, innocent grin. "Misato! Imagine me finding you here....."

  She grabbed him by the arm and dragged through the door with a "Woah!"

  Inside she threw him into a chair, barking an order to "Sit!"

  "Yes sir!" he barked back and she disappeared into the kitchen. He noticed the table was set before him. "Ah, dinner." He had forgotten about his hunger.

  He felt a bit of a dead-weight sitting at the table with nothing to do and not helping, so he got up and walked into what he guessed was the kitchen.

  The sweet smell of food had not deceived him and he found Shinji labouring over multiple pots and pans.

  "Shinji!" Isamu exclaimed gleefully. Shinji span around, caught by surprise, but upon seeing Isamu relaxed again.

  "Hi, Isamu."

  Isamu looked at him concernedly. "Gee, you really tensed up then. How come?"

  Shinji looked a bit embarrassed, but he told the truth. "I – I thought you may have been Asuka," he had to force out through shame. Isamu frowned deeply at this.

  "Wow, she's a real tyrant isn't she? I may have to have a little talk to her later," he announced rubbing his chin. His attention seemed to drift, as did his gaze.

  "Oh, please don't," Shinji pleaded. "She'll come after me for whining and I really hate it when she gets angry."

  Isamu looked at him, amazed.

  "You mean you let her boss you around? Christ, Shinji! No wonder – if you let them trample you once, they'll conquer you forever." He struck his clenched fist into his other hand. "You have to stand up for yourself."

  "Please, Isamu – don't......" Shinji began, but Isamu cut him off.

  "No more – we'll not speak of it till later. And if she tries anything – " With this Isamu slapped his arm across Shinji's shoulders, "I'll protect you."

  Shinji looked up into Isamu's kind face and smiled.

  "But who's going to protect you?" came a voice from the doorway, and the boys turned to see Misato holding a beer can. Isamu smiled at her slyly.

  "Why, you will my dear Misato," he told her coyly, to which she grunted her disapproval.

  "No way, I'm not that stupid," she informed him, taking a swig from the can.

  "Well! Seeing as my friends won't back me up, I'll have to fend for myself," he seemed to no one in particular, then turned again to Shinji, who was trying to wriggle free of his arm. Isamu frowned at him, disappointed, making Shinji feel bad. Isamu released him in a dejected way.

  "Well, can I help?" he asked, the jubilance gone form his voice now, but Shinji shook his head and continued looking at his feet. "Oh well," Isamu sighed and walked back to the table where Misato had sat down and was clipping her toenails. 

  He pulled the seat out the seat nearest to hers and leant over. "He's very uncomfortable around people, isn't he?" he whispered to her.

  Misato looked towards the kitchen for a moment, then back to her toes. "Yeah" was all she could think to say.

  Isamu was angry about her absent-mindedness, and made it clear. She shrugged and sighed in an exasperated way. "Well, I don't know what to do. The closer we get the more we hurt each other."

  "The Hedgehog's Dilemma," Isamu clarified.

  "Yes, I don't whether to push him away r try and get closer," she explained. Isamu nodded to show his understanding.

  "The bridges we create to bond with each other take time to construct," he said whimsically. Misato looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise.

  "I wasn't expecting that from you."

  Isamu shrugged and she leant over and hugged him. "You're so much the same as how I remember you, yet so different. I'm so sad I didn't get to see you grow up," she said into his ear.

  "Well, I'm not exactly grown up yet – I'm only 14," he reminded her, but was happy she said it anyway. He was also happy since her left breast was pressed up against his face.

  She let him go and kissed his cheek, and he subsequently turned bright pink.

  "Isamu, are you blushing?" she asked amazedly, trying to see around his hair, which he was using to hide his face.

  "No," he replied quietly, abashed. Misato smiled cheekily.

  "I think you are," she teased him, then laughed out loud, exclaiming "You're even cuter when you're embarrassed!" after which she kissed him multiple times until he playfully pushed her away.

  "Stop it," he ordered quietly, but Misato could see he was smiling, and attacked him with a barrage of "Cuuchi – cuu's" and cheek pinches. Isamu batted her hands away.

  "Don't – I mean it," he told her, trying to remain stern behind his giggling.

  "Oh, sure you do," she retorted and started lightly slapping his face, which she knew he hated. He squealed in amused irritation and tried to escape.

  Shinji and Ritsuko stared on – Shinji perplexed and Ritsuko delighted. Isamu spotted the latter and exclaimed "Help! Ritsu!"

  She laughed and walked over to the two locked in combat. "Hold on Shorty, I'll save you," she replied with a lot more enthusiasm than she really had, and picked him up out of the chair. She winced ass pain shot through her back. "Ow – I think you're getting a bit too big to be doing this more than once a week," she told Isamu who blushed again.

  "Sorry," he offered.

  Ritsuko laughed again. "It's ok, it's not your fault!" and placed him back on his feet. She looked over to Shinji who stood with a pot in his hands, and a very confused look on his face. "Hi, Shinji," she greeted him.

  This knocked his mind back into motion. "Uh, hi Ritsuko – I mean, Dr. Akagi." Ritsuko looked at him sternly.

  "Shinji, it's ok to call me Ritsuko here."

  "O – ok," Shinji stammered, placed the pot on the table and returned to the kitchen.

  Ritsuko turned to Misato. "Hope you don't mind that I let myself in." Misato just smiled and rolled her eyes.

  "I never do," she reminded Ritsuko, who rolled her eyes in return and they both laughed.

  Isamu looked up from his plate, very embarrassed. "Yes, that was fun wasn't it" he replied to Misato sarcastically.

  Misato continued laughing but blurted out "You were red all over for a week!"

  Isamu heard Shinji snicker and looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Shinji had his hand over his mouth, trying to hold in his laughter.

  _I hate it when she does this! _Isamu whinged to himself, _especially when it's people I just met. And to make it worse – in front of Shinji Ikari. He must think I'm a walking joke._ He frowned angrily at the giggling Misato, then noticed she'd only had one beer.

  _At least she's not drunk, then she'd be slobbering all over the place._

"Oh, come on Isamu!" It was funny!" Misato cried out when she saw his expression.

  Isamu mimed the words _you're embarrassing me_, and she looked at him irritably.

  "Oh, well I'm sor-ry. I was just trying to enjoy myself, which I don't often get to do," she told him looking into the can of beer in her hand sadly.

  Isamu felt bad. "I'm sorry," he apologised, looking down at his plate. Misato smiled again and placed her shoulder and the table and rested her chin in her hand.

  "You're just like Asuka," she murmured, "So proud."

  "I don't know wether to take that as an insult or a compliment," Isamu replied.

  "Neither, just my opinion," she pointed out.

  "Oh." Isamu thought for a second then accepted it with a shrug. "So, Shinji," Isamu began, moving attention to the person who had been avoiding it since dinner began, "Tell me about you."

  Shinji went red and fumbled his speech. "Th – there isn't much to really t –tell."

  Isamu sighed and looked to Misato. "You were right – he doesn't talk much." Shinji looked at her accusingly and she tried to hide her face. Isamu turned back to Shinji.

  "So how long have you been going out with Asuka?"

  Shinji jumped. "I – I'm not going out with her! S – she just lives here!"

  "Oh, sure," Isamu replied sarcastically and rolled his eyes to show his disbelief.

  "I – it's true! Ask Misato!" Shinji insisted. He was very upset.

  "Misato?" Isamu called her.

  "Oh, they've been at it for months now, years even," she replied casually.

  "MISATO!" Shinji yelped, very worked up and both Isamu and Misato burst out laughing. Shinji immediately got very confused.

  "W – what?"

  "You were right Misato!" Isamu confirmed after he regained his composure a little, "he does go ballistic when you tease him."

  Shinji growled, collected the plates and left the table.

  "Oh dear, I think I've hurt his feelings," Isamu noted, worried and got up to pursue him into the kitchen. "Shinji, I'm sorry."

  Shinji ignored him.

  "Really, I am. I didn't realise how cut you got over being teased."

  Shinji relaxed a bit. "It's not your fault. Misato was the one who told you."

  "Hey," Isamu said a little forcefully, putting his arm on Shinji's shoulder to get his full attention, "don't be angry at her either. Y'know, Ikari, she really likes you. The only reason I knew about you getting cranky was that she said it on the phone. She always talks about you."

  "Really?" Shinji asked looking up into Isamu's face.

  "Yeah."

  Shinji felt ashamed of being so angry with them both. "Come on!" Isamu said, patting him on the back. "Stop working and come and talk to us. We want to be your friends Shinji."

  _That's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me _Shinji realised.

  Shinji's hesitation made Isamu frown. _Why doesn't he like me? I'm trying to be as good a friend as possible. Am I not good enough? I thought Misato was exaggerating when she said that he couldn't talk to anyone. _But Shinji smiled at him and he returned it.

  "Ok," Shinji agreed, and they both joined Misato back at the table. She smiled sorrowfully at Shinji. "I'm sorry Shinji."

  "It's ok," Shinji told her, then leant over the table and embraced her – a little hesitantly at first. It took Misato by surprise, but she hugged him back. She gave Isamu a _"what did you say?" _Look, but he just grinned and shrugged.

  Shinji let go of Misato and looked her in the face. "Was that the right thing to do?" he asked unsurely.

  Misato wasn't sure what to say either. "Um, well – yes."

  "Isamu?" Misato asked after a lengthy pause.

  "Yes?"

  "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

  Isamu realised that he'd totally forgotten about why he'd come over. But he'd enjoyed himself so much and he didn't want to dampen the evening with ominous speculation so he left it.

  "Nothing."


	3. Episode 9 (of NGE)

THE STORY OF ISAMU FUYUTSUKI

Part 3 – Episode 9

_Author's Note –_

_  Well, hi again! I'm sorry to anyone who actually read my fan-fic for the lateness of this part, but I've been busy as buggery with exams and school. But now it's holidays and I can bum about at leisure and start writing this thing again._

_  Ok, so this part is actually episode 9 out the series. A lot of the next few parts will be like this as I sort of patch over the series to include Isamu. I'm not going to try and rewrite the entire episodes, just give indication where the scenes I've written fit in so you (the reader) can just see how it all goes together. Any scene that I haven't written is therefore the same as in the show._

_  And my e-mail address has changed since last. It's now __just4kix@bigpond.net.au__, so if you want to say anything about the fic, that's where to say it._

_  Anyway, enjoy this part._

Part 3 – Episode 9

_2 days after Part II_

"Halo!"

  Shinji freaked at the voice.

  "Good mornink Shinji," Asuka cooed, walking up behind him. Shinji tried to put on a brave face.

  "G – goodmorgin." 

  Asuka noticed his expression.

  "Hey, why so gloomy? I'm the most popular girl in school. You should appreciate your good fortune," told him and flicked him across the nose. Shinji "Uh"ed in surprise and backed away.

  "Hey," Asuka continued, "the other one's here too isn't she?"

  "Other one?" Shinji replied, a little confused.

  Asuka rounded on him angrily. "What are you? Stupid? I'm talking about the first child of course!" She yelled at him.

  "Oh, Ayanami," Shinji replied, frightened, and looked down to where Rei was sitting alone.

  Asuka followed his gaze with an "Hmm?" and spied Ayanami reading her book. "I might have a talk to her," Asuka mused.

  "The 'other one' is coming here too," Shinji continued, attempting to be helpful. Asuka turned to him with a very confused look on her face. Then she realised who he was talking about.

  "That jerk! If he gets within 5 feet of me I'll castrate him!" she screamed, then marched off down the escalator to where Rei was sitting, followed by a group of male students. Shinji shrugged and walked over to where Kensuke and Tohji were watching the performance further along the walkway.

  "Hey Shinji," they greeted simultaneously.

  "Takes one to know one," Tohji mused from up on the walkway. "I wonder if only weirdoes are chosen to be EVA pilots."

  Shinji didn't offer any argument on his own behalf as he stared at Rei in fascination.

  "Well I'm sure once you get to know me you'll decide not," Isamu said from behind the three. They all turned to find him standing with hands in pockets and with a bag slung over his shoulders. He looked markedly pleased with himself for that line.

  He walked over to stand next to Shinji, resting his arms on the rail. "Good morning Mister Ikari."

  Shinji, as usual, had to struggle with the conversation, irritating himself. "Uh – hi Isamu," he replied timidly. He still wasn't very sure about the newest pilot. Isamu simply smiled at him then leant forward to see past Shinji to the other two stooges.

  "And you're Tohji?" he asked Tohji, who nodded and gave a polite wave.

  "And you must be Kensuke?"

  Kensuke nodded and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Hi."

  "What are you staring at?" Isamu asked, turning to look at Shinji again.

  "Oh, er – uh –nothing," Shinji stammered, and looked off towards the city, trying to hide his blushing face.

  Isamu knew what he was doing and smiled deviously. "Sure you weren't. You were staring intently at something over there," he pointed out, looking over to where Rei was sitting. When he saw her, his grin grew twice as wide.

  "Oh, oh, oh!" he crowed, and looked straight at Shinji who's face was now bright pink. "Getting' in a good perve, huh Shinji?" he teased, and gave Shinji a wink.

  "I was not!" Shinji yelled in defence. "I was just…watching her and Asuka talk!"

  Tohji and Kensuke were giggling, and Isamu chuckling sinisterly. Shinji felt extremely uncomfortable.

  "Oh, double perve, huh?" Isamu said slyly and nudged Shinji with his elbow.

  Shinji had just about reached his limit of annoyance. "Stop teasing me!"

  Isamu reared up in his own defence, though kept smiling. "I'm not! There's nothing wrong with having a good perve," he replied. "It might do you some good!"

  This reply confused Shinji – he wasn't used to someone rationalising for him. Misato just teased him straight out. He'd never had someone take this course with him. He stood dumfounded.

  Isamu looked back to Rei, his smile gone, replaced by one of serious thought. He stood looking down at her, as if contemplating. The three stared at him. Finally he spoke.

  "Why is she alone?"

  Shinji had no idea how to answer this, realising he didn't really know himself.

  "Uh, well…she…I…we," he began over and over.

  Isamu sighed in exasperation and dropped his head into his arms, which rested in a 'V' shape on the rail. Shinji's social aloofness was beginning to annoy him. He decided to just let it be for now; Shinji was already worked up enough.

  "Yeah, that's a really nice stutter you have, but I would like an answer within the next 5 minutes."

  Shinji shut up momentarily, concentrating on making a feasible sentence and controlling his anger at Isamu's arrogance.

  "She doesn't have any friends, I guess."

  "How come you don't talk to her?" Isamu asked.

  Shinji was even further from answering this. He had no clue why. She was just odd.

  "She doesn't seem to like talking."

  Isamu murmured a response, all the time staring at Rei.

  _What is with her?_

  The bell rang, surprising him.

  "Oh well," Tohji lamented, picking up his bag. "Another glorious day of school." He walked off towards the school building, followed by Kensuke.

  Shinji picked up his bag, and then walked after them, followed by Isamu. As they walked side by side, Shinji thought of his own shortcomings, Isamu of Rei and his own mysteries.

  "Adults have a thing about credibility," Ryohji Kahji said smugly, slumping in his chair. Asuka groaned.

  Shinji was about to ask where Misato was when he was interrupted by a voice coming from the lift Commander Fuyutsuki had just descended on. They all looked to see the podium reappear with Isamu perched atop of it, his back to them.

  "I'll say the do," he said, and flashed them a smile over his shoulder.  It was the smile that reminded Shinji of Ryohji's. _The Fuyutsuki Charm _Isamu called it.

  Isamu spun himself around so he was sitting facing the trio. Maya remained silent on his left. Shinji noticed Asuka now had a huge scowl on her face. She knew what was coming.

  "Well, you two on a real show!" Isamu tittered, looking remarkably pleased with himself. Then he started giggling which evolved into outright laughter. "That was pathetic!!" he cried between spasms of laughter. "Even Ritsuko thought so!"

  Asuka's face was now red with rage. Shinji's was red with shame and embarrassment. Ryohji had his head in his right hand, shaking it.

  _Not a good idea, Isamu…_

  But Isamu kept right on teasing.

  "I must commend the clean-up crews," he continued, his laughter ceasing. He lay down across the podium with his head propped up on his hand. His grin was wide and his eyes bright.

  He decided to let Asuka stew and turned to Maya, who was watching the display silently.

  "I thought your description of the events was brilliant, Maya," he told her in a very sultry voice, rolling the r in brilliant. Maya blushed and giggled cutely.

  "Thank you."

  At the acceptance of his compliment Isamu grew bolder.

  "In fact, I was trying to improve my own speaking voice," he continued. "Maybe you can assist me, say, over dinner?"

  Asuka's jaw hit the ground. Shinji just thought _Oh; he's a Fuyutsuki, all right._

  Ryohji was holding back peals of laughter, forcibly with his hand, which he clamped over he mouth.

  Maya gulped air in amazement and bewilderment, her face bright pink. She gathered her books and got out of her seat.

  "Uh, I've got night shift tonight," she began, but Isamu cut her off before she could go further.

  "Maybe tomorrow then?"

  "Uh, I've got a lot of work tomorrow," Maya replied timidly and dashed from the room.

  Isamu turned his head to look at the other three. Asuka had her hands on her hips, and a smirk of her face. Ryohji and Shinji were both clutching their mouths.

  "She's crazy about me."

  Ryohji and Shinji burst out laughing, tears streaming their faces. Asuka put her hands to her face and shook it. She had almost had him in a position to strike him a mighty blow to his ego.

  "Oh, poor Asuka. Your pride has over-ridden your sense of humour," Isamu noted. He had realized the situation he'd been in, and had determined himself not to be caught out. She gave him a look as cold as ice.

  Isamu raised his eyebrow at her, but whereas he meant it as an invitation of a sexual kind, she unfortunately took it as a challenge.

  "I'll laugh when something is amusing, not your drivel," she countered through clenched teeth.  All pretence of her fancying him had left her mind. To her he was now the enemy, and her pride as a woman and the best EVA pilot was at stake.

  Isamu mocked being struck in the heart by an arrow and staggered backwards to fall into the chair his father had been sitting in of recent. Asuka took no notice.

  "As for today's mission," she continued, "I think I did well considering I had no information on what the angel could do, and terrible backup." She directed an indignant look at Shinji, who tensed up in preparation for a fight.

  "Actually that angel would be dust now if I hadn't needed to protect the third child," she concluded.

 Shinji decided he couldn't take anymore. He stood up and began yelling. "You fool! You were so worried about looking like a big hero you disregarded procedure and put us all at risk!"

  Asuka returned the volley with vigour. "Your _procedures_ hindered my performance! You just want to play it safe with Misato and Daddy! You were terrified!"

  "I was not!"

  "You were!"

  "Was not!"

  Ryohji and Isamu watched the yelling match pass back and forth. Isamu climbed down to sit behind Ryohji.

  "Such anger, pride, strength of will," Isamu murmured into his older brothers ear, full of awe.

  "You really look up to him, don't you?" Ryohji said back, and turned to look his brother in the face. Isamu didn't seem to hear him, and Ryohji realized he wasn't looking at Shinji.

  "She's wonderful," he seemed to whisper to no one.

  Ryohji's eyes grew very large, and he looked between Asuka and Isamu multiple times. He realized that the look on Isamu's face wasn't admiration. It was adoration.

  A huge grin spread over his face, and he began to laugh to himself.

  "Well, well, well…" he chuckled and put his hands behind his head, looking ever so smugger. Isamu woke from his daze, and realized what he'd said. He looked to Ryohji with pleading eyes, and Ryohji read his mind.

  "It's ok. I won't tell anyone," he told Isamu, who looked notably relieved. "But that doesn't mean I won't hassle you about it."

  Isamu gave him an angry glare momentarily, then sighed and looked down at his feet. Ryohji ruffled his hair in his hair in a friendly way, one that Isamu had got used to – it was a sort of brotherly trademark.

  All the while Asuka and Shinji had been fighting it out over who was the better of them. Asuka finally tired of it.

  "Ugh! I can't take this anymore!" she shrieked and stormed out, leaving the three men. Isamu had regained his prior humour. He watched her go, and then looked at Shinji with a devil's grin, which was so wide it threatened to split his face in two.

  "You sure have a way with women."

  Shinji collapsed down into his chair, his head in his hands. Ryohji looked at Isamu angrily.

  _You hypocrite…_

  But then Isamu surprised him by walking over and placing a hand on Shinji's shoulder. Shinji looked at him, his cheeks wet with tears.

  _So he does like her _Isamu thought, not without a feeling of disappointment.

  But he didn't say anything. Instead he leant over and hugged Shinji, using his left hand to pat Shinji's back. Shinji stared at Ryohji, his eyes full of a sort of terror.

  _A terror of not knowing what to do, of never having it happen before._

Now Ryohji could see what his brother was trying to do. He was trying to help.

  Isamu let go of Shinji and stood before him with his hands on Shinji's shoulders. Shinji just stared at him, 'terrified.'

  "Believe me, you're better off without them," he told Shinji sincerely. "They're nothing but trouble."

  Shinji's mouth twitched as he attempted to speak. He finally squeaked out a "Who?"

  "Women, my friend. Women." Isamu said. "You need your friends. You need to talk to them. Think about it."

  Shinji just looked at him blankly. Isamu patted his shoulder then turned to leave. As he walked past, Ryohji caught a glance of his face. When he saw it, he froze.

  It wasn't fear.

  It was recognition.

  "…Misato?"

  Ryohji roused. He liked that word.

  "Huh?"

  "Where is Misato?" Shinji asked again…

  _Well, it's done. It seems a bit short I think. This was my first try at re-doing (or' patching' as I like to think of it) an episode from the series. As you can see I've done a pretty lousy job, and it certainly isn't what I hoped it to be. If anyone has any ideas that can help or for another scene PLEASE contact me, I love to hear suggestions and ideas. I was going to use a style from anther fan-fic I read but changed my mind as I am trying to keep this as original as possible._

_  I was going to include him in the scene where Asuka and Shinji are doing the 'Twister' thing while Misato, Rei, Tohji, Kensuke and Hikari watch, but I really couldn't be bothered. If anyone wants it done or anything, just say so and I might. I've started typing Part 4 up and Part 5 is being rewritten, as I was unhappy with it. I really ought to plan this thing out in detail (I have a rough idea what's going to happen) but I'm still not taking it too seriously. I've received some mail and ICQ messages from some very nice people and I thank them very much. I'd really like to thank the webmasters as well. They have been very nice to me._


	4. The Sync Test

**THE STORY OF ISAMU FUYUTSUKI**

Part 4 – The Sync' Test 

_Author's note:_

_  So here is the fourth part. I haven't got much else to say, except thanking the site owners for their kindness and for putting this thing up in the first place. And also thanks to those who have mailed me with wonderful comments. You are all very kind and I dedicate this part to you._

_  Thanks!_

_  And, of course, you can contact me at just4kix@bigpond.net.au or 65514266 on ICQ._

Adin Knight 14/10/00 

_  Special thanks to Deck for his editing of this part. He's certainly the best NGE fan there is. You can reach him at 9932020 on ICQ. _

_Adin 24/11/00_

Part 4 – The Sync' Test 

_10 days after Episode 9._

Misato looked down at Shinji, her arms still crossed over her chest. She could tell from his expression how worried and anxious he was. He was always uneasy when it had something to do with this. His stance mimicked Misato's own, with his arms intertwined over his plug suit. His brow was furrowed in concentration.

  She turned her attention back to the view the window they stood before provided. It was a very sterile view, a bright white room. It hurt her eyes looking into it for too long. The only exception was the dark behemoth fastened to the far wall. The contrast between it and its surroundings felt cold and unnatural, like a beautiful yet dangerous animal contained in a tiny cage with no windows.

  And it was on these monsters their lives depended.

  She decided to try and ease Shinji's mind. He had been silent all afternoon on the way to NERV. In fact, he'd been quiet all day, since he was told about the test. She could understand why. Her attempt to talk was as much an attempt to relieve her own tension. She turned her head again so she could look down to her right side, where he stood. He hadn't moved.

  "Worried?" she asked simply but softly. She wanted to make him know she wasn't teasing, and that she knew how he felt. When asked about how he felt he always retreated back into his shell. Maybe if she lulled him a bit she'd be able to get her foot in the door and bring him out.

  For a moment she thought he might not answer. He stood still as stone. After a pause he released his breath in a loud sigh and his shoulders slumped a little.

  "Yes," he replied just as simple and sombre as she had. This made her wonder if he couldn't talk or he didn't want to. She decided it must be the former, as he would've snapped, as he did when he was irritated. This made her realise how much it must hurt him, his emotions forever bottled up inside him. _It must be a great burden._

  She unfolded her arms and placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt him resist her touch at first, but then he relaxed a little. To her surprise she could feel him shaking slightly.

  She heard the door to the control 'box' open, and then footsteps approach.

  "Misato, ma'am?" Maya's attractive voice came from her left. Misato turned her head again to look at her. She was smiling as usual, but not an annoying smile. It was a smile that made you glad she was around. Misato returned the smile.

  "He's asking for you," Maya reported. It didn't surprise Misato in the least – she had expected it – but it annoyed her. She was finally getting through to Shinji, but she relented.

  "Thank you Maya."

  Maya nodded politely to her then returned to 'the Box', leaving Misato and Shinji. Misato looked back at the window.

  "Will you be ok?" she asked after a necessary pause. She knew he wouldn't if something went wrong, but it would do more damage had she just left without saying anything.

  Shinji sighed again. She could feel his anger swelling. _You know I won't but you'll go anyway _she knew he wanted to say, but he just replied "Yes" impatiently. _Go then, leave me be. _She sighed inwardly. She thought she'd never be able to get through to him.

  She walked down to the door. It opened as she drew near and she made to step through. Halfway through she stopped and leant back to look at him.

  He hadn't moved.

As Misato walked in and the door closed behind her, she immediately became aware of the person staring out of the large windows of the room's far wall into yonder cell.

  Rei.

  At first she'd thought Shinji's suspicions about the relationship between the 1st child and the newest as some sort of personal fantasy, him being jealous of her actually asserting herself with Isamu. But now she wasn't sure. Maybe he was right.

  Misato approached her, stood next to her, following her empty gaze.

  "Hello Rei," she said. She wasn't sure if she would receive a response or what she'd do if she didn't, but she did, in Rei's quiet, distant voice.

  "Ma'am."

  Behind them Ritsuko raised her head from the terminal she was monitoring. She moved to stand next to Misato. She could tell Misato was worried. She was too.

  Misato was so deep in thought that she didn't hear Ritsuko approach. Her mind registered movement to her right and she moved her head just enough to see who it was. Central Command was her place, her show. This was Ritsuko's.

  Ritsuko moved raised her arm and placed her finger on a large red button set above a grill in the wall – an intercom.

  "Isamu, she's here," she said as if he were standing in front of her. She removed her hand. The light behind the button stayed on, indicating an open channel.

  There was a pause, and then a familiar voice emerged from the speaker.

  "Hey Misato."

  Certainly not his usual confident self.

  _He's scared, but he's trying to hide it Misato thought, and from his voice he was doing quite well._

  "Hey, how're you doing?" she asked, trying to be supportive. She didn't blame him. He had read their records, including those on the EVA accidents. When he'd been told about the test, he hadn't been as elated as Misato had expected. He'd been very apprehensive.

  And now the day was here, and he was scared to death, but didn't want anyone to know.

  "I'm ok," he replied, his voice quavering.

  "Hang in there," she told him, not really knowing what else she could say. There wasn't a lot she could do except boost his confidence. When she told him Ritsu was in charge he had felt better, though not himself.

  She waited for a response; perhaps he was going to say something else. But the brief pause ended with an "Ok."

  Behind Misato, Maya looked up from the terminal displaying EVA-03's circuit status. Of course all were closed; Alphonse was dormant, his pilot not connected.

  "We're ready," Maya reported to Ritsuko's back. Her voice was cool and efficient. It offended Misato slightly, but Maya hadn't known the 4th child very long.

  Ritsuko sighed loudly. This was her way of saying to Misato _If you want to stop this, now is the time, after this we have to go through with it. But Misato knew as well as Ritsuko that it had to be done, regardless of how they and the pilot felt. They couldn't deploy an unmanned EVA-03 and hope the Angels ran away._

  Misato twitched nervously. She didn't think she'd ever been this uncomfortable in her life. She repeated Ritsuko's sigh.

  "Let's get it over with," she said. Ritsuko nodded and walked back to her post. Misato watched her go then turned back to the window and the communicator.

  "We're beginning, Isamu."

  "Oh, great," he groaned back. She didn't want to do this but she had no choice. She looked back to Ritsuko and nodded approval to start.

  Ritsuko smiled weakly to he then looked down to her right, almost talking into Maya's ear (much to Maya's delight).

  "Let's begin."

  Isamu heard Ritsuko say, "Let's begin," and his heart slumped. They were going to go through with it after all. They always were. And he was frightened as hell – he had been all afternoon. After reading about the other incidents in NERV, it was no wonder.

  _This tube thing smells funny he thought in a rather infantile way, and a grin spread across his face. He'd been thinking of the smell ever since he'd been put in it, which seemed like days ago, though it was really only an hour or so. It was a smell that really stuck in the nose, and wouldn't leave. It reminded him of an injury he'd sustained once – the smell of flesh and blood._

  He'd sat amazed at first, the plug was a lot bigger than he'd imagined. Then he'd become worried, unsure how to talk to Ritsuko, who'd told him she'd be in charge when he first arrived. It'd made him feel better hearing it from her. Misato had told him but he wasn't sure if he should believe her – not because he didn't trust her – but because he had the feeling things didn't always go as they were told in NERV.

  But he'd felt better when the communicator had clicked on, and her voice was the one that trickled down to him, among the many background voices, which he supposed, belonged to the technicians working alongside her.

  "Are you there, Isamu?"

  He felt the warm blood of relief flush his face, and his voice – which seemed unable to decide whether he was 14 or 21.

  "Yeah," he croaked, the first two letters coming out as a low growl, the last two a high-pitch squeak. He slammed hands over his mouth, and his face went a deeper red as Ritsuko giggled – a red of embarrassment.

  "Is your voice breaking?" she enquired, teasing mixed with adoration.

  "No!" Isamu snapped back, not appreciating it. This wasn't the time for goofing off.

  Ritsuko smiled to herself and walked away from the communicator. Isamu could hear her conversing with someone, and then she barked out an order for everyone to hear.

  "Disengage signal terminator!"

  Outside a large black tube with a cross lifted out of the plug chamber on Alphonse's neck. It lifted clear with a mechanical grunting and groaning.

  Isamu of course couldn't see it, and could only imagine what was going on. The next order really got his attention.

  "Insert entry plug!"

  He knew what that meant.

  The plug around him shuddered and the noise of the injection mechanism reverberated through it. Isamu felt his heart beat quicker and harder - a rhythmic pounding in his chest.

  _This is it! This is what I've been waiting for! flew through his mind, and he was overcome with an immense feeling of joy mixed in with his anxiety. He considered this the crowning moment of his existence._

  Then it was still, for a moment. Suddenly, to his surprise, the plug swivelled into position, locking into Alphonse's neck.

  He was inside Alphonse for the first time. It didn't seem particularly exciting, but he knew that would change soon.

  "Isamu, just sit tight while we prepare for the neural connection. It'll only take a little while," Ritsuko told him. Her voice was toneless, like that of an instructor; providing only the necessary information.

  "Ok," Isamu replied nervously and tried to settle himself.

  And now here he was, still thinking about the smell of the LCL and with his best friend watching (he didn't know that Ayanami was present, otherwise she would have doubtless been on his mind, as she had been a lot lately).

  "Initiate primary circuits," Ritsuko ordered.

  Then Isamu's thoughts were knocked from his head as he felt a sudden wave of nausea pass over him. It was strong enough to make him shudder violently, and then it was gone. The next thing that happened was beyond his wildest imaginations; the plug came to life around him. Millions of colours flew past in dizzying displays, providing strange views of things he didn't understand.

  Then the colours melded into a flash of white light, and the wall around him was replaced by a view of the room around Alphonse.

  But Isamu only had a moment to enjoy it. Something pulled him hard back in his seat and his first thought was _It's invading my mind!_

  He could sense a consciousness within his own, but it was almost identical to his own. Strange memories that weren't his own but somehow were starting playing in his mind; a jumble of quick images like a slide projector stuck on fast forward.

  But before he could begin to make sense of anything, a new feeling took hold of him, one of the most powerful feelings he'd ever experienced.

  _I've been here before._

_  No you haven't, that's not possible._

_  I know I have. I've been here before._

  His mind began a tug-of-war as to whether he had really been there before. He felt it in every way something could be familiar, yet he knew it wasn't possible.

  Alphonse had awakened something within him. Something not meant to be waked, but to lie dormant.

  "Isamu? Are you there? _Isamu?!" an urgent voice burst in upon his thoughts, and he realised he hadn't been paying attention._

  "_Isamu!" _

  The voice was approaching a shrill wail.

  "I'm here Misato," he said quietly, morosely.

  "Are you ok?" she cried, very upset.

  "Yeah," he replied, his voice barely audible.

  He looked around. He could see.

  _I must be seeing through Alphonse's eyes._

  He used his new eyes to look around. He could feel the clamps on Alphonse's shoulders – on his shoulders - fastening him to the wall. He raised Alphonse's arm, looking down at the huge hand, flexing the gigantic fingers.

  Misato had settled herself, and now her voice took on the form of an awed whisper. "How does it feel?"

  Behind her Ritsuko watched, a broad smile across her face – the satisfaction of a job well done.

  "It's…" Isamu began to reply, and found he couldn't summon a word to describe how he felt. This was the moment he thought would never come, like the dream everyone has that they never really realize but keep safe within them to give them hope.

  And here he was, living his dream, and he couldn't explain just how it felt.

  "…Good."

  Misato wasn't surprised by Isamu's response. She could imagine how it felt, though not the _I've been here before part._ She smiled to herself, happy for him.

  Momentarily she looked down to her left, where Rei had been. Ayanami was still there, with an absent look on her face.

  _I wonder what she's thinking._

  As Misato posed possible answers to this, Ritsuko walked over and stood to her right again. Misato looked around to her, still smiling.

  "Everything going smoothly?"

  "Yes, better than I expected," Ritsuko replied, her smile widening. Misato's own smile dropped off her face like a brick.

  "How do you mean 'better than I expected'?" Misato asked her seriously.

  "His sync' rate – it's not what we expected," Ritsuko told her. Misato gave her an urging look, her eyes wide – a look that screamed _Tell me!_

"It's 56%," Ritsuko said slowly.

  "It's WHAT?"

  Ritsuko said nothing, Misato had heard the first time. She just continued smiling and looked out to EVA-03 again. Alphonse's arm went back down to his side, and her looked over to where they were. Misato remembered the open channel.

  "Is that good?" Isamu asked. Ritsuko was sure she could recognize a look of inquisitive curiosity on Alphonse's face, much like that of Isamu's.

  _It's even copying his expression._

  "It's better than good," she said without realizing, still looking out at EVA-03. She shifted her gaze to Misato, and spoke to Isamu through her.

  "It's incredible."

  Misato gazed at her, dumbfounded.

  _56% without prior training. That's higher than Shinji's first sync'. That's impossible._ Ritsuko looked at her in a way that said _I know_, as if she'd read Misato's thoughts.

  Ritsuko looked out window again. Misato just thought on, looking absently at the wall.

  _Yet another mystery to add to the pile._

  Shinji stood, still looking.

  There hadn't been any commotion, the EVA hadn't tried to tear itself free of the restraint and pound the wall.

  Everything must be going well.

  Surprise hinted at him when EVA-03's arm rose up and flexed its fingers, its head looking down at that hand.

  _That mean's it has synchronized with him. It's Isamu moving that hand._

  Now that black behemoth was looking to the control box, just to his left, and he thought he could see an expression of curiosity on its face.

  _Misato must have said something interesting._

  Thinking of her angered him, Not only because she left him there, knowing full well how he'd react if something went wrong, but because of his own detachedness to her. She tried over and over to get through to him, but he always closed up, like a clam protecting its soft, vulnerable centre. And he could see he was doing it too, yet he was powerless to stop it.

  _You're a fool. _The voice of his father. Shinji felt his blood run hot with rage. His face tightened into a snarl, then a grimace of pain.

  _I hate you! You were never there when I needed you. And now you need me, that's all. The only reason I'm here!_

_  "Because I have a use for you," _came Gendou's voice from his memory. That had hurt him more than anything.

  _Damn you Father…_

  Shinji looked at EVA-03 – his father's creation – then walked away.

  "WHAT?!" screamed the young girl sitting on the park bench overlooking the lake situated next to the pyramid of NERV. The handsome, middle aged man sitting next to her flinched at the volume and pitch of her voice. Most people who knew her reacted this way when she spoke.

  The girls face was one of stun – eyes wide and her mouth hung open – obviously due to what her male associate had just told her.

  He gave her a look - _You heard me._

"That's not possible," she consoled herself and looked at her feet. Her long brownish hair hung down over the sides of her face.

  The man continued looking at her, a mix of amusement, teasing and curiosity in his voice when he spoke again.

  "56% without prior training or experience." Though he knew it was a lie himself.

  He had been awaiting her reaction to the news with great interest, remembering how she had reacted when she was told about the 3rd child's high sync' level.

  _She considers him a threat, like she does everyone, except me of course._

The last thought made him roll his eyes in annoyance. He wasn't blind to how she acted around him, how women everywhere did. But Asuka was different – a sort of maturity complex.

  _And she's still smarting from his teasing from a couple of days ago._

But thinking of women always stuck in his mind, especially thinking of a special lady. When he thought of her he couldn't think of much else.

  _A very special lady indeed _he thought and chuckled to himself.

  "What are you laughing at?" the girl rounded on him angrily.

  "Oh…" he began to think of an excuse, snapping back to reality, but he couldn't so he just gave her a big grin.

  "…nothing."

  Asuka didn't give him the reaction he'd hoped for.

  "You were laughing at me, weren't you?" she said, her voice loud with rage. "You think I'm jealous! That he's better than me!"

  Ryohji Kahji rolled his eyes again, and looked in the opposite direction, off down the street.

  "No, Asuka. I wasn't"

  "Yes you were!" she screamed. She jumped to her feet and leant over towards him, hands on hips.

  Ryohji just kept looking down the road for a moment, but then made the mistake of looking into her face out of the corner of his eye.

  "I'll beat him yet! This isn't over!" she said to him sincerely, almost frighteningly so. Ryohji's expression of amused irritation faded to one of terror.

  Asuka stormed off, and he let out a long sigh. He ran both hands over his face, pushing his hair back, then dropped them into his lap and looked off into the distance, not really looking at anything.

  He hadn't spoken to Isamu about the test yet, and he was very interested to hear his story. Very interested indeed, and also interested as to what his father must be thinking. Ryohji had his own doubts about NERV and what was going on.

  _But it's a nice afternoon. Too nice to work _he told himself and slumped back in the chair, hands behind his head, and dozed with a smile on his face now.

  His daydreams were about a special lady indeed.

  That was very good work today Isamu," Ritsuko Akagi told the youngest Fuyutsuki who stood before her, back in his civilian clothes.

  Isamu wasn't sure what he'd done or how he'd done it, but he remembered his manners. "Thank you," he replied quietly, his face blank.

  _There is something on his mind. Maybe things didn't go so well after all _Ritsuko thought, looking at him. Isamu looked down at his feet. _He's really upset – this isn't like him at all._

  "Isamu, what's wrong?"

  Isamu paused momentarily, unsure how to tell her. He decided he'd better not. _Time heals all wounds, solves all problems _was a philosophy he'd based his life on.

  "Nothing."

  This worried Ritsuko even more. She knelt down and raised his face by putting her hand under his chin. His eyes were glassy, his expression glum. She let the hand rest on his shoulder.

  "Please tell me. It's important I know if there was something wrong. I am your friend aren't I?" she asked him sincerely. He just looked at her, tears brimming his eyelids. She pulled him into her and held him.

  Isamu was a little surprised at first, and then he rapped his arms around her shoulders. Ritsuko was pleased; she thought they'd taken away those feelings from time gone.

  _He was my little boy once…_

  She let go of him and held him in front of herself again, her hands on his arms which hung down by his sides. She could see the lines of tears on his cheeks and he sniffled. She was struck by how cute he was again.

  "Please?" she pleaded with him again. He looked down at his feet, gathering the necessary courage.

  "When I was in there – this afternoon," he began, and then sniffled loudly. Ritsuko reached into her white lab coat's pocket and withdrew a tissue. She handed it to him, and he blew his nose on it, and then made a disgusted face at it. Ritsuko giggled kindly, then pointed to a trashcan just down the corridor. Isamu walked to it and dropped the tissue into its gaping maw.

  Ritsuko raised herself to her feet and walked over to him. She took his left hand in her right and looked down into his face. He had an open mouth and wide eyes, asking _what are you doing?_

  She gave him her best supportive smile and he returned it.

  "Do you like coffee?" she asked him.

  "Uh, yeah."

  She turned to her right and headed him down the corridor leading that way, hand in hand. Isamu wasn't sure where they were going; he hadn't been to the small cafeteria that Ritsuko and Misato frequented.

  "What a view," he said quite plainly, and sipped out of the mug he held in both hands. It was dark and the buildings suspended from the geofront's roof were illuminated by hundreds of small lights. The grounds around the NERV pyramid were lit by lines of electric lights along the lanes and roads, like a luminescent spider's web.

  "It is, isn't it," Ritsuko murmured into her own coffee, looking out of the window in front of the table they were sitting at. They were almost alone in the cafeteria, the only other people present being a couple of junior technicians, holding hands over their table.

  Isamu looked over at them, and the male leant over to kiss the female technician on the cheek. She smiled and blushed red. Isamu smiled weakly at them, one of the most beautiful scenes he'd ever seen.

  Ritsuko looked away from the window down to him and was mildly surprised he was smiling.

  "What are you smiling at?" she asked him tenderly. He looked up at her, still happy.

  "Oh, nothing," he told her and sipped his coffee again.

  "Feeling better?" she asked him and sipped hers.

  "Yeah," he replied, and was pleased it was the truth, and it was her he was telling. Ritsuko was glad too. It was like old times, ones Isamu didn't remember.

  "Are you going to tell me what's up?" she asked him after a brief pause. Isamu's smile faded, and he looked down at the coffee mug in his hands.

  "When I was in Alphonse, I felt something I hadn't expected at all. I was struck by the feeling that I'd been there before. I know it's impossible – I didn't even know of NERV till a few months ago. I have no recollection or memories of the plug, but the feeling was there and it was too strong to ignore."

  Isamu kept looking down into his coffee, thinking about what had happened. Maybe he was going mad - maybe he was imagining it. He dismissed them both – it was too real a feeling for him to have imagined it, and he was pretty sure he wasn't insane.

  He thought on and on for a couple of minutes, unaware his partner had gone very quiet.

  Ritsuko sat looking at him, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open. Her face was still as stone, but her mind was running like a hare. _Oh no, he's starting to remember._

When Isamu looked up, it wasn't the expression he'd expected. He sat up in his chair, tensing. His own face was one of outright worry and fright.

  "Ritsuko? What is it? What's wrong?"

  _Please don't let me have gone mad._

Ritsuko seemed to return mentally. Her mouth closed and her eyes blinked several times. She realized she had to give him an answer, even if it was lie.

  "I'm sorry Isamu, but I don't know," she told him gently, and raised her coffee to her lips.

  "I really don't know."


	5. Asuka vs. Isamu

THE STORY OF ISAMU FUYUTSUKI

Part 5 – Asuka VS. Isamu

_Author's Note:_

  Well before you get all excited, Asuka and Isamu aren't going to have a biff with the EVAs or anything! But hopefully you'll get a taste of what's to come between them.

_  I must really say another thankyou to everyone who has e-mailed me since Part 4. I am really beginning to feel an important part of something with the compliments. They have certainly inspired me to keep going! So another big thanks to them and anyone who e-mails me after this._

_  So without further adieu, let the story continue._

_Adin Knight 5/12/00 (Christmas soon!)_

Part 5 – Asuka VS. Isamu 

_2 days after Part 4_

"Don't you understand – _he's starting to remember!"_ Ritusko almost screamed at the man standing four feet in front of her, behind Gendou Ikari's desk.

  "He had a feeling of déjà vu, that is hardly remembering," Kohzoh Fuyutsuki replied calmly. He was still cool and collected, unlike Ritsuko, who was seething with rage.

  Her breath was loud and heavy, and her eyes red. She looked down at Gendou, who sat at his desk as he always did, as if he was unaware of the feud going on around him.

  "Don't you have anything to say?" she asked him, begging him to consider it.

  Gendou took his time, gathering his thoughts. Finally he spoke.

  "I concur with the Vice-Commander. We will wait if or until something else happens. One feeling of recognition is not enough to warrant such a procedure."

  Ritsuko looked at him in dismay; amazed he'd taken Kohzoh's side.

  "You know how dangerous the procedure is and this time he doesn't have the background for it to work. There may be 'unfortunate' consequences," Kohzoh added. Ritusko looked back at him.

  "You had no trouble taking him away fro me before. Now, when it matters you hide behind excuses," she snarled.

  Now Kohzoh's edge cracked. His face tightened into a grimace of anger.

  "He was never _yours _anyway."

  "I was all he had!" Ritusko screamed back. "You just treated him like your puppet, a toy, something to resurrect old ghosts! I found he was a person in his own right!"

  Now she looked down at Gendou.

  "Just like you. You and your little dummy bitch. You abandoned you son for a drone. You're both fools, who can't accept the truth!"

  Kohzoh stepped back, his face no longer a hard surface. Now it was like a child's, who has just been told his mother died.

  Gendou didn't move.

  "I think you've said enough, Dr. Akagi," he told her coldly.

  Her rage tightened as a ball in her throat, and her temples throbbed. But she quelled her anger and stomped out the dark office.

  When she left, Kohzoh let out his breath in a sigh. He looked down at Gendou who, of course, didn't look back.

  "What do you think?"

  "I think we should keep an eye on the situation."

  As Ritusko went to leave the office, a shadow moved away from the other side of the door. It fled down the corridor and hid around a corner.

  Luckily for it, Ritusko walked in the other direction. When it heard her footsteps fade, it re-emerged and moved back towards the door to Commander Ikari's office. Fortunately the doors only opened when the Commander summoned, so they wouldn't open like normal doors and give it away.

  Ryohji had first been alerted when he heard the yelling. He had been going to see if he could squeeze some more information out of the two senior officers when he had heard Ritusko yelling.

  His hand paused over the button to activate the chime to alert them of his presence. Instead he placed his ear against the hard metal.

  Nothing. It was thick metal.

  But he was undeterred. He reached into his pocket and removed a small device – a box with two leads coming out of it. At the end of the leads were two earphones, and these he placed in his ears. The small box he placed against the door.

  Now he could hear what was going on. And very interesting the listening was, until he had to retreat as Ritusko left. Now he stood before the door again, old questions and arguments flickering through his mind, plus some new ones.

The next day – 

"Y'know what?" Isamu asked Shinji as he leant back in his chair with his feet on the desk. Shinji looked up from his work, though Isamu continued gazing towards the front of the room.

  "What?"

  Isamu stopped tapping his pen against his lower lip and let it rest on his chest.

  "You guys are seriously boring," he said dully. Shinji's expression changed to one of annoyance.

  "That's not very nice," he replied, offended.

  Isamu threw his legs apart and over the desk's edges, so his chair's front legs hit the floor, then turned and looked straight into Shinji's face.

  "But you are!" he cried loud enough to gain the attention of the whole class. The two looked around embarrassedly, and then returned to their work. The class followed their example, except Asuka who stared at them a while longer.

  After a while Isamu began to rock back in his chair again. He removed something from under his black t-shirt – he hadn't taken to wearing the school uniform, claiming it clashed with his hair – and started fiddling with it in his right hand.

  When he spoke again, Shinji noticed he had assumed a rather dazed expression – staring off into nothing – like his mind was somewhere else.

  "All you guys do is go to school, whinge and have sync tests," he whispered. This time Shinji thought about it and realised Isamu was right. But it didn't worry him; he didn't want to be well known, just part of the crowd. He was a terrible socialiser anyway.

  He looked up and noticed Isamu's absent expression, and then the thing twirling in Isamu's fingers glittered in the sun and caught his attention.

  "So?"

  "Well you always seem so miserable, maybe you should do something to take your mind off things. Relax a bit."

  Now Shinji's mind was focused on the glittery object moving nimbly over and under Isamu's knuckles. It was moving too fast – disappearing and reappearing – for him to really see what it was.

  "Isamu, what is that?"

  "Huh?"

  Shinji pointed and Isamu's brain woke up.

  "In your hand," Shinji directed.

  Isamu looked down into his hand and the tiny golden locket and chain he held. He smiled then handed it to Shinji.

  "It's a locket," he told Shinji as he dropped the small bundle into his hand.

  Shinji held it up by its chain and looked at it as it spun slowly. "Why do you wear it?"

  "Look inside."

  Shinji found a tiny latch on the side and unfastened it. He slid his fingernail under it and lifted it open. Inside were two small pictures, one on either side. Both were of a woman with striking red hair. She was very beautiful and also very familiar.

  Shinji looked at Isamu. "Is that your…"

  "My Mother? Yes, it is."

  Shinji looked back at the photos. Isamu looked on. Shinji stared at a small photograph of Isamu's mother's face.

  "What was her name?"

  "Myung. Myung Kahji," Isamu said sadly.

  "Oh," Shinji replied absently, still staring. He was thinking of how much Isamu resembled her. Slowly he closed the locket, clicked the latch shut and handed it back to Isamu, who put the chain over his head so the locket hung on his chest.

  Shinji noticed Isamu's rather sad face, and worried he'd upset Isamu. But he hadn't, and Isamu looked at him and smiled glumly.

  "Do you remember your mother?" Isamu asked Shinji. Shinji looked down at his hands, like he was expecting them to provide an answer.

  "Not really. I was very young when she died," Shinji said morosely and thought back to his childhood, but he couldn't really remember her. He knew she'd been kind and a good mother, but not much else. He cursed himself for not thinking of her more – revering her like the 4th child.

  "Yeah, I don't remember much either," Isamu told him. He had the locket in his hand again, looking off into the distance.

  "Mr. Fuyutsuki, have you completed your work?"

  That raspy voice caught their attention and Shinji hurriedly returned to his work. Isamu, as usual, remained calm but allowed his chair to rest on all fours again.

  "Yes, sir," Isamu replied as respectfully as he could.

  Their teacher looked at him sourly. He didn't like this boy much. He was self-assured and annoying, not to mention disruptive. But he was also intelligent which made it worse. He often finished work quickly then started chatting to his chums, especially the Ikari boy.

  "Well please let Mr. Ikari finish his work in peace."

  Isamu had nothing against their teacher, but he could see he wasn't liked. He tried to be as respectful as possible but he loved to talk. He couldn't know just how much Ryohji had experienced the same feeling before, and just how many men had been consumed by jealousy for him. Already the male population in the school was coming to dislike him, but he hadn't noticed.

  "Yes, sir," he said back, and pressed a button on his terminal which reactivated the screen. He began typing to give the illusion he was studying.

  The teacher decided to keep an eye on him. He would have loved to get rid of Isamu, but the boy was one of 'them' and he had his orders.

  As Shinji worked, he heard a small beep. On the screen in front of him was a message.

  _We are so alike!_

  Tohji watched with quiet curiosity from the other side of Shinji's desk. He still wasn't sure what to think of Isamu. He seemed nice enough, though somewhat odd.

  _Maybe I should stop being so hard on new kids _he thought and smiled to himself. Kensuke was playing with his model planes and making rather annoying noises. Tohji kicked his chair and told him to shut up. Kensuke poked his tongue out at him, and then went back to work.

  When the lunch bell rang, Tohji was the first out, as usual. He grabbed his wallet from his bag without difficulty (this time) and bolted off to the canteen. Asuka looked at him with disgust.

  "Trust a boy – always thinking with their stomachs," she commented, and then turned to Hikari who was standing beside her. "If you ever marry a guy like that, I'll kill you."

  Hikari smiled nervously and blushed a deep red.

  "Trying to keep her all for yourself?" Isamu asked cheekily, walking by. This time Asuka went red - with rage.

  "WHY YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF… I SWEAR I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" she screamed. Isamu just kept walking and smiling, while the class looked at Asuka in shock. Shinji followed after him, dodging Asuka's glare as he went past. Kensuke followed the two of them, a huge grin on his face. Asuka saw it.

  "SHUT UP!"

  With that Kensuke burst out laughing. Asuka attempted to kick him, but he managed to move out of the way. 

  The three of them made their way up to the roof and sat on a bench. Isamu unslung the bag he had over his shoulder and began to unzip it. Shinji sat next to him and did likewise, though Kensuke stood a little longer. He was still somewhat sceptical of Isamu. His attached ness to Shinji a little…odd.

  _Maybe he's gay, _Kensuke ventured, but then he heard a giggle behind them. All three turned to see a group of girls watching them intently – or more watching Isamu intently. To Shinji it came as little surprise, it had start to become routine. But Kensuke had not got to know the fourth child, and his doubts about Isamu's sexuality were settled when Isamu winked at the girls.

  They giggled and two ran away, but one stayed and waved shyly at Isamu. He waved back cutely. She blushed and ran after her friends.

  _He seems like quite the ladies man, _Kensuke thought, and it made him grin. _I like this guy._

Isamu turned to Shinji who was looking at him strangely after witnessing what had just occurred. Isamu gave him an equally strange look.

  "What?"

  Shinji smiled at him, and looked back down at the bag in his lap. "Oh, nothing."

  "No, what was it?" Isamu insisted.

  Shinji looked at him again, still smiling.

  "From what I've seen, you are a lot like Ryohji. You are both very…very…" 

  Shinji looked around, trying to think of the word. Kensuke gave him one.

  "Randy?"

  Shinji looked at him, his smile gone. He was unsure if Isamu would take offence.

  Isamu just smiled and looked away, down to his right. Kensuke thought he'd never seen someone so moronic when embarrassed.

  "Well I, uh…gee…thanks," he mumbled, then looked back at Shinji, who was on the verge of laughing. It made Isamu happy to see him lighten up. He quickly regained his usual self-confident attitude. "I bet they were looking at you and Kensuke. I always hear all the women talking about Kensuke. Even Misato commented on how masculine and handsome he is." He winked at Kensuke.

  As soon as Kensuke heard Misato's name he went into a swoon. He took a rather drunken look and smirk. Isamu and Shinji went into hysterics.

  Tohji appeared, laden with food, to find them. He looked very confused.

  "What's so funny?"

  "You guys are!" Isamu told him between spasms of laughter. "In the time I've been here you guys have been the funniest group of guys I've ever met!"

  "No, they're just stupid – like you," Asuka pointed out. Tohji, Kensuke and Shinji immediately shut up and spun around. Isamu took his time recovering and turned around slowly, very relaxed.

  Asuka glared at him with her hands on her hips. Hikari was attempting to hide behind her from Tohji.

  "Why do you keep following us?" Isamu asked her innocently. "You must really like him," he said, and nodded at Shinji. Shinji turned to him, startled.

  "Who?! Me?!"

  "Who?! Him?!" Asuka echoed. She was blushing vividly.

  "You heard me," Isamu said. "At least, that's what it looks like."

  Asuka shook her fist at him and stormed off, leaving Hikari who smiled weakly then went after her.

  "Sorry Shinji, but I just had to get rid of her," Isamu apologised.

  "It's ok," Shinji told him and relaxed. _I wonder if she does like me?_ He thought, but dismissed the thought with a bout of low self-esteem. _No way, I'm a nothing. No one would ever like me._

  "I can't stand him!" Asuka declared, looking out over Tokyo-3 from the other side of the roof. Hikari stood behind her.

  "So you do like him," Hikari said.

  Asuka sighed sadly, looking down at her feet. She looked back up at the horizon.

  "No – well, yes. He's just so irritating."

  Hikari smiled. 

  "Why don't you tell him?"

  "Because I know he'll use it as a way to make me look stupider than ever."

  Hikari's smile grew wider.

  "Maybe he likes you."

  "Some how I doubt it. Anyway, what do you care?" Asuka yelled, turning on her – almost savaging her. Hikari moved backwards holding up her hands in defence. Asuka continued her attack. "Haven't you got something official to do?!"

  Hikari ran away crying.

  Asuka placed her head in her hands as tears began to roll down her cheeks, whispering, "Men – they ruin everything."

  As Asuka closed the front door that afternoon, she recognised the sweet smell of instant food. She walked into the kitchen to find Misato eating a bowl of microwave noodles and guzzling a can of Yebisu simultaneously, making a most amusing scene. Pen-pen was also attempting to down a can – with great difficulty.

  Asuka just walked past them to get a drink from the fridge. Misato smiled at her but Asuka still retained her frown.

  "Hello Asuka," Misato said happily. Her happiness irritated Asuka even more.

  "Hello Misato," Asuka mocked her, but Misato took no notice. She continued being quite joyous. She hadn't had a day off work in a while.

  "How was your day?" she continued, despite Asuka's obvious bad mood.

  "Fine," Asuka replied coldly. She could feel her anger rising.

  "Certainly doesn't sound like it!" Misato exclaimed suddenly and burst out laughing. Asuka gave her a look of pure rage and then stormed off to her room, attempting to slam the sliding door. Misato looked after her, a rather confused look on her face.

  "Was it something I said? Hey – where's Shinji?!" she called after her, just realising he was missing.

  She only just caught the faint call from Asuka's room.

  "He's gone to the mall with his damn friends!"

  "Come on! It'll be fun!" Isamu told the very nervous Shinji. Shinji backed away from him, further from the large building Isamu had coaxed him into coming to.

  "But Misato will worry and I have homework to do," he replied, trying to make his excuses sound reasonably feasible.

  But Isamu was insistent, and he began mocking Shinji. He put his hands up under his chin and flashed his eyelashes, trying to look as annoyingly cute as possible.

  "Ooh! I'm so scared my poor big-breasted bitch won't know where I am if she need help with her homework!" he teased, then grabbed Shinji's arm with a "Come on!" and dragged him through the doors.

  Shinji squirmed uncomfortably in the chair he sat in. He didn't like being around so many people, and there were a lot of people around him. Isamu had chosen a table right in the middle of the food court. On all sides people eating and chatting surrounded him.

  Presently Isamu appeared, pushing his way through the crowd towards Shinji. He was holding two plates, which had steaming food on them. As he sat down he handed one to Shinji who timidly took it from him, uttering a feeble "Thank you."

  Isamu sat down and began gobbling his meal down. Shinji picked at his half-heartedly. Isamu looked at him between shovelling fork-fulls into his face.

  "Not hungry?"

  Shinji dropped his fork and sighed loudly. He was afraid of looking silly.

  "Not really, thanks."

  Isamu put his own fork down and looked at Shinji with concern.

  "Something on your mind?" he asked soberly.

  Shinji looked at his kind face. He felt he could tell Isamu anything, but something inside him just wouldn't let him.

  "No."

  Isamu rolled his eyes and leant back in his seat. He raised his palms to the sky as if to say _'God help me!' _then dropped them into his lap and looked at Shinji with a blank face, which quickly changed to an annoyed one as he spoke.

  "I bring you here to try and get you to talk and relax but you have to keep yourself all closed up! Why don't you just talk to someone?!"

  Shinji felt hot blood run into his face, and before he could stop he yelled back "Why should I have to be how you want me?! Everybody doesn't have to be the way you want them to be!" at Isamu, who recoiled in fear and surprise.

  Isamu'd been told many times that 'the truth hurts' but he only really appreciated what it really meant now. He looked sadly down at his feet, the full sting of Shinji's words weighing on his mind.

  Shinji saw Isamu's reaction and was ashamed for what he'd said. He dropped his head into his hands and sighed deeply. He knew he'd hurt yet another person trying to help him, trying to be nice to him. It made him so angry with himself – almost hate himself.

  A silence fell between them for a few minutes while each thought of his own things. Isamu was again surprised it was Shinji who spoke first, though quietly and remorsefully. Shinji realised he didn't just not like to talk – he didn't like what he had to say.

  "Isamu, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

  He looked up at Isamu who still sat hunched up in his chair with his head down. In that moment Shinji became aware of the sounds around him. The people nearby had quickly returned to their business after his outburst drew their attention, and all around he could hear the quiet rustle of feet and hushed murmur of voices. It somehow had a soothing quality to it. It seemed to be coming from far away, but helped him realise just where he was; in a reality with other people who didn't always share his views or care for him.

  _…Father…_

  It was a disquieting thought.

  "No," Isamu said slowly and raised his face to look into Shinji's. Momentarily Shinji was frightened that Isamu was not accepting his apology, but Isamu gave him another of those grim smiles.

  "I should be the one apologising," he continued. "I was being really selfish, and I didn't consider your feelings. I was…I was trying to turn you into what I thought you'd be. I'm sorry."

  He held out his hand to Shinji, who clasped it in his own and shook it.

  They sat quietly then, Isamu gazing away into the crowd around them, while Shinji stared into the table – both lost in thought.

  Finally Shinji spoke.

  "What did you mean by 'you tried to turn me into what you thought I'd be?" and also realised what a most confusing sentence it was. He looked up at the fourth child again, but Isamu didn't look back. Instead Isamu looked slowly around at the table, his face showing he was thinking. Shinji continued looking at him. He liked Isamu, though some things about him irritated Shinji.

  Presently Isamu began to giggle, then chuckle and then laugh. Shinji felt the contagious effects and began to grin giddily.

  "What?" he asked, stifling a chuckle.

  Isamu tried to contain his laughter, but found he couldn't. He held up his hand with his first finger extended to signal for Shinji to wait.

  "Oh, it's just how stupid I was," he said after he finally managed to bring himself under control. Shinji looked at him curiously.

  "How were you?"

  "Oh, it's just how I thought you'd be. I had this image of Shinji Ikari being a big, strong, handsome, cool, sort of mellow guy who was a hit with the ladies."

  At this point he nudged Shinji jokingly. Shinji smiled back though he really didn't feel like it.

 "I mean, you are!" Isamu said quickly, not wanting to hurt Shinji's feelings again, then reconsidered.

  "Sort of…"

  Shinji looked down at his right hand, which lay limp on his right leg. He turned it upwards and looked at the palm.

  "Sorry to disappoint you," he said quietly.

  Isamu put his hand on Shinji's shoulder and tightened his grip a little. Shinji looked up at him. Isamu gave him his most supportive smile.

  "Hey, you are not a disappointment. Over the last few months you've been through more than most people have in a lifetime, with no training, and no experience, and you're still here. If that isn't courage then I don't know what is. All that has to count for something. No one else I ever met could deal with all that."

  He gave Shinji a little push and withdrew his arm.

  "Anyway, I like you better this way. Making your role-models superhuman is silly."

  Shinji looked down at his hand, stunned.

_  Me? A role model?_

  His hand clenched into a fist then relaxed again. He looked at it in wonder. Would someone really look up to him for what he was? For what he did? For being a pilot?

  He looked up at Isamu to ask him, but Isamu was already staring off into the crowd again. Shinji quickly looked back into his lap again. His fist clenched again, and the strength in it made his spirits rise. He looked up at the ceiling, which was made of glass, and into the sky above.

  Isamu caught him completely off guard.

  "I guess we're not so alike after all."

  Commander Fuyutsuki sighed and shifted his feet at the table he was sitting at. He'd been waiting for hours and it was getting dark. He'd already watered all the plants twice.

  He picked up the nearby newspaper and began to re-read it, hoping to find something he'd missed before. But, as with everything he did, he'd been thorough – there was nothing new to be read.

  Slowly he folded it up and put it down again. Another long sigh permeated from him. Years ago he would have read, but he was finding it difficult to focus on anything. With the arrival of his two sons things had become much more complicated. He could deal with Shigeru, who had always been most like his father. He would do what he was told, and would not ask questions. Shigeru had often made him proud once upon a time.

  But Ryohji and Isamu were different. Bother were impossible to keep quiet and could never stop being nosey and inquisitive. They'd got that from their mother.

  _Oh, Myung. I wish you were here._

He realised it had been a long time since he'd waited for one of his boys to come home.

  And the first time he'd done it alone.

  The front door closing roused him from his thoughts. He turned in his chair to find Isamu removing his shoes, and his anger returned.

  "Where have you been?" he asked sternly. Isamu didn't look at him.

  "Out," he answered curtly. The Commander inflated his chest and drew his facial features into a loose snarl.

  "Don't talk to me like that. Where were you?"

  Now Isamu did look at him, and those familiar eyes made Kohzoh feel unsettled.

  "I was in the city," Isamu said softly.

  The Commander gave him a look that sent a shiver down his back. He felt bad for disappointing his father, though he didn't want to be. It was as if the feeling was forced upon him. He wanted to be angry with Kohzoh but he couldn't.

  "Were you with Ikari?" his father pressed on.

  Isamu decided a confrontation might give him the anger he wanted.

  "What's it to you?"

  "Isamu!"

  He found it didn't, it only served to make him feel worse. His gaze had fallen back down to his feet, but now he looked his father in the eyes.

  "Yes, I was."

  Kohzoh made no reply, but inwardly his thoughts were of a rather cynical nature.

  _The children of Yui and Myung – friends! _He scoffed_. How ironic._

  "I thought I told you to come home before 5 o'clock," he said finally. Isamu looked away off to his left and didn't answer. He was looking at the phone, which he'd wanted to call Misato on.

  "The mall is not a good place to spend your time, nor wandering the streets at dark."

  This time Isamu did look at him, his eyes wide with amazement.

  _How did he know?_

  Then the answer dawned on him and he looked back down at his feet. This time he really did feel angry.

  _Must've had goons following me._

"I am sorry father. It will not happen again."

  That pleased the Commander very little. He had heard that often enough not to believe it, though not from Isamu…

  "I'm going to bed," Isamu told him and walked down the hall to his room, leaving his father to his own thoughts.

  At the Katsuragi residence a similar situation was being acted out.

  "Where have you been?" Misato asked with her hand on her hips. Shinji thought it was one of the few times he'd seen her genuinely angry. He finished taking off his shoes and looked at her innocently.

  Misato still found it difficult to be angry with him. She tried to put on her sternest face but found she couldn't.

  "I was in the city with Isamu," he told her quietly. She relaxed noticeably at that, and even began to smile.

  "Good," she giggled and skipped off down the hall and through the door to the living room.

  Shinji stood speechless.

  Shinji turned his head to the side so he could see the clock on the table across the room.

  10:12

  He sighed and turned back to the ceiling.

  He wasn't sure why he bothered going to be bed early - it didn't help

  In the next room he could hear the TV blaring. Asuka had declared she was old enough to make her own rules, including going to bed when she wanted to. At first Misato had rebuked her but in the end had given in.

  At dinner Shinji had sat staring at Asuka, thinking of what Isamu had said. How did she feel towards him? He wasn't sure how he felt towards her. She seemed to obsessed with herself to care for anyone else. She considered him a threat and a rival, like she did most people.

  But he had sat staring at her until she called him a pervert and other such things.

  Now he found himself lying in bed, still thinking of her. Maybe he was attracted to her. But she angered him so much…

  He sighed sadly again.

  Pride. Fear. _People._

  Things he'd mainly avoided before becoming a pilot. Now he** had to deal with them.**

  Was that the only thing people liked him for? Respected him for?

  For being an EVA pilot?

  _Leave! came the voice of his father- the one who summoned him to fulfill his role._

  "Because I have a purpose to fulfill," Shinji said out loud.

  He tried to cram the thoughts away, but they resisted with vigor.

  _You're trying to run away again the voice in his head told him._

  Suddenly he was there in the carriage, as it sped over the vastness of his conscience.

  _You're trying to shut away those things that trouble you came the lilting voice again. Shinji knew from the voice who it was._

  "No. Go away." He said lightly, turning away from the light streaming in onto his face, silhouetting the person opposite him.

  _You run and hide from those that hurt you the voice persisted._

"Sorry…

Sorry…

…sorry," his own voice came back to him.

  "No! Leave me alone!" Shinji screamed, clamping his hands over his ears. He began to sob quietly, then looked up into Rei's face.

  "Why are you doing this?"

  She looked at him and her blank face took on as much of an expression of empathy as it could.

  _You haven't learnt from the past or adapted to life. Instead you hide your feelings, avoid confrontations and run from people._

  "What's wrong with that?"

  He was alone in his bed. His pillow was sodden with tears. He pressed into it and cried, vowing _I **will** change._

  After a while sleep took him.

  Isamu turned his head to the side and scratched his nose. With that accomplished, he put the hand back behind his head and blew his breath out in a whistle.

  He regretted retreating to his room; he was hungry. But he wouldn't face his father, who he knew would be lurking about outside. In fact the Commander had also gone to bed. He was pleased to be home early for the first time in years.

  Isamu rolled onto his side, his hair strewn over his pillow. He felt decidedly irritated, not just from his hunger, but from his sleeplessness.

  He supposed it was from being an active person; when he went to bed he expected to sleep immediately – which he usually did.

  But occasionally, when he had things on his mind, he found himself lying awake.

  "Looks like it's gonna be one of those nights," he sighed to himself, and reached over to switch off the MD player lying nearby. He sat up and removed the earphones, then sat still – looking about the room.

  Something tugged at his mind, something he'd forgotten. He looked around the room, trying to figure out what it was.

  Isamu wasn't aware of it, but each time he had moved lodgings he had almost always reassembled his room in the same way - a subconscious link to a past he didn't remember.

  It looked like any teenager's room - posters adorning the walls displaying band names and beautiful women; a small set of open shelves on which were set myriad smaller possessions (including one teddy-bear) and across it a small set of drawers to store clothes in. A lot of his clothes lay strewn about the floor as he searched, and he considered cleaning them up.

  But he knew the itch would drive him to madness if he didn't find whatever it was he was looking for.

  He searched past the small amplifier, sitting next to a case; past his school bag which had overturned, spilling its contents; and then his gaze settled on a small, gray, box-shaped item half-hidden under a pair of jeans and a packet of old chips.

  He smiled and clapped his hands together in joy of finding it. He had neglected the item as of recent.

  Slowly he rolled forward onto his knees and leant over to pick it up. Upon grabbing it he reversed the movement to end up sitting back on his bed with his legs crossed.

  He put the object in his lap and pushed a switch on its front to open it.

  It was a very dirty, battered old computer.

  Isamu flicked the 'on' switch and the screen illuminated his face. As it started he inspected its keyboard to see what sort of condition it was in. The 'J' key was loose; 'L' and 'N' had swapped positions, and 'P' had been replaced by a piece of plastic with 'P' written on it.

  Never the less, his smile did not falter. Everything was in order. He quickly switched the 'L' and "N' keys, then placed his finger on the touch-pad.

  Slowly he guided the cursor to a file named '2015'. Around it resided other files similarly named – '2014','2013', '2012', and so on.

  He positioned the cursor directly over the file and quickly pressed a button below the touch-pad twice. From inside the machine came a multitude of taps and whirls and buzzes as it attempted to open the document.

  Once it had finished, Isamu began to scroll down towards the bottom of the document. On the way he passed many entries, all dated.

  It was a journal.

  Finally he reached the end of the page and, after entering the days date, began typing.

  Later Isamu slept soundly, having cleared his mind.

  Misato watched TV for a while, and then went straight to sleep – she was very tired.

_23-2-01 – Sorry this has taken so long everyone. I was away most of the holidays, and when school started back my PC died and I had to get it fixed. But finally I've got it back, and here is the finished product. So apologies again to everyone and hopefully the next one will be out sooner. I hope I haven't lost any readers from this delay, but if I have it serves me right!_


	6. Episode 10 (of NGE)

THE STORY OF ISAMU FUYUTSUKI

Part 6 – Episode 10

Author's Note: 

  Well here I am, again, and there you are, again. I haven't got much to say this time apart from sorry for the delay and if anyone has an idea for better name for this fan-fic than 'The Story of Isamu Fuyutsuki' then please tell me since I feel the title is somewhat…drab. I am thinking of doing another fan-fic for Bubblegum Crisis 2040 but I doubt it'd be much different to this. All comments, etc. please send to 'isamu_fuyutsuki@evangelion.com' now since I'm changing ISP soon, and don't bother telling me how stupid that address sounds – I already am quite aware of it.

_  Anyway, enjoy as always._

- _Adin Knight, 18th June 2001_

_P.S. MS Word gives me the shits._

_P.P.S. When Asuka says "What" it would actually come out "Vot" since there is no 'W' in German, but for simplicities sake I've put "What" here._

Part 6 – Episode 10 

_  To tell you the truth, the timeline has gone a bit awry since NGE doesn't have a clear description of space between episodes so I've decided to 'wing it'. At this point Isamu has been at NERV for approximately 3 weeks, so it's about 2 or 3 days after Part 5._

  "You could at least try to adjust to Japanese schooling," Misato said calmly. Asuka bared her teeth at her in a grimace of rage.

  "This sucks!"

*             *              *

  "Man, it must really suck being an EVA pilot," Touhji said suddenly. It surprised Isamu, as they'd been standing in silence for what seemed like ages.

  "I guess some things about it do," he replied. "I can't really say much since I haven't been on a mission yet."

  Isamu didn't really know Touhji too well, and had only spoken to him rarely during the 3 weeks he'd been at NERV.

  "But so far I've enjoyed it," he concluded.

  "Oh…"

  They lapsed back into silence – leaning over the railing on the balcony on the airport roof, watching planes taxiing along the tarmac and thinking quietly. Presently Hikari emerged from the entrance behind them.

  "Suzaharra – you're supposed to be with the class group!" she yelled at Touhji, who turned around and hung over the railing in a lazy fashion.

  "I already told you; I told Kensuke to I'd meet him here. You know how easy he gets lost," he said. Isamu paid them no heed, or they him. 

  Hikari growled and marched back through the doors, leaving them alone again.

  Touhji slowly turned back around muttering "Women…" He looked momentarily at his companion as he turned. Thinking about it now, he didn't know Isamu well. They'd only swapped greetings occasionally. His attached ness to Shinji seemed…odd, though Touhji appreciated his attitude towards Asuka.

  _Any enemy of hers is a friend of mine _he thought and grinned. Isamu heard the chuckle but said nothing.

  After another long pause Isamu looked at his watch. "They're ten minutes late," he announced after letting his arm rest on the rail again, then added "Hopeless."

  Touhji smiled again.

  "To think the fate of the world is on their shoulders," he said.

  Isamu grinned like someone had just told him to see the lighter side of a car crash.

  "Yeah, we're a sad bunch."

  They both laughed lightly. Touhji decided to try and keep the conversation going.

  "I've noticed how well you get on with Asuka."

  Isamu gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes, exclaiming, "Hasn't everyone!" They both shared another laugh. Touhji found it refreshing to be able to say that name around another guy without him going into a swoon.

  "It's impossible to get along with her," Isamu said, turning to look at Touhji for the first time.

  "She ought to be shot!"

  "Amen to that," Touhji laughed, then added "Though you could be charged with cruelty to animals."

  Isamu chuckled in a false way, feeling a bit of a hypocrite. He was about to change the subject when he was interrupted.

  "What the hell are _you_ doing here?!" came that most angelic of voices from behind them, making them both startle.

  "Speak of the she-devil…" Touhji muttered under his breath to Isamu. Asuka heard it too.

  "What was that?!" she bellowed at him.

  Shinji emerged from the doors behind her, giving her an angry look. Kensuke followed him timidly, hiding from Asuka behind him. She'd already told him what she thought of him twice today.

  "Gee, Asuka – settle down a bit."

  Asuka growled at him and crossed her arms over her chest. Isamu was pleased to see Shinji actually standing up to her, in a metaphorical sense.

  Shinji passed her and stood next to Isamu while Kensuke stood between them.

  Touhji looked to Kensuke with excitement in his eyes.

  "You all ready for our trip Aida?" he asked triumphantly, much to the discomfiture of the pilots. Kensuke gave him slapped his out-stretched hand.

  "You bet! I brought everything!" he said and began sorting through his bag. Unsurprisingly 'everything' in his vocabulary was another meaning for 'lots of blank cassettes.' Touhji seemed to deflate a bit, then turned to Isamu and Shinji who were watching and looking rather depressed. Asuka was almost in tears.

  I guess we should feel sorry for our friends who won't be joining us," he said, insincerely. Shinji looked hopeful that he might get some sympathy.

  "But I'm just too excited!"

   Shinji slumped. "Aw…"

  Kensuke joined in.

  "Yeah, looks like no fun for them!"

  Shinji began moping and Isamu looked away with an irritated 'Hmph'. Asuka growled ever the fiercer from behind them, but Touhji and Kensuke weren't afraid of her now. This was there moment of triumph.

  Hikari appeared carrying a travel bag over her shoulder and looking angrily at Touhji and Kensuke.

  "Come on you two! We have to get going!" she yelled at them, and then turned to go, waving to Asuka as she went. "Hey Asuka, I'll bring you back something nice!" Asuka watched her go, almost in tears again.

  _A week with those **boys**…_

  Touhji and Kensuke ran after her. Touhji turned just inside the doors and raised his hand, looking back the pilots. "Don't worry – I'll have enough fun for the three of you!" he whooped and then sped off after Hikari. Close behind him, Kensuke did likewise, yelling "Sayonara suckers!" while video taping their expressions so he could savour the moment forever. Then he was gone and the doors closed with finality as the three pilots stood alone on the balcony.

  Isamu was the first to turn away from the doorway, leaning on the railing again. Shinji followed suite, and finally Asuka walked over to stand nearby.

  They remained that way until after the plane left, and then Asuka stormed off, leaving the two males alone.

  "Oh well, back to work for us…" Isamu sighed, standing up straight. Shinji stood up and stretched his back. Slowly they turned and left through the doors into the main foyer.

  As they made their way through the crowd, dodging people, Isamu asked Shinji "Where are you heading now?"

  Shinji continued in silence until they reached the airport's main entrance. He stopped and looked around the sky. It was a nice day. He took a deep breath of air.

  "Well, Misato is angry at us for our low school marks recently, and Asuka was asking me to meet her soon, so I think I'll just go back to NERV and study."

  Isamu turned up his lip to show his surprise to Shinji's commitment.

  "Hmm, well have fun then. I'm going to go check out a comic book store I saw on the way here. I'll catch up with you later," he said and turned to go. He began to walk away, then looked back and waved.

  Shinji waved back, then headed for the train station.

*              *              *

  "A school trip, huh? That sounds pretty reckless in times like these," Ritsuko commented.

  Misato continued looking off into the distance thoughtfully.

  "I guess the idea is to let all the kids have time to get out and act like kids," she said, then added an ominous "While they can."

  Ritsuko hummed a response while still reading the report. Her eyebrows furrowed as she came across a discrepancy. She looked over her shoulder to the centre of the command centre's balcony.

  "Lieutenant Fuyutsuki, please come here," she called.

  Shigeru Fuyutsuki looked up, and then quickly put down his air-guitar before hurrying over to where she was sitting. As he passed Misato he smiled and nodded to her, which she returned.

  "How are you doing Shigeru?" she asked him.

  "Good thank you, Captain Katsuragi," he replied, walking over to stand behind Ritsuko. Misato watched him for a while. She had always liked Shigeru – he was polite and friendly, unlike the arrogant and rude Ryohji Kahji.

  Misato sighed and looked away off into the distance, thinking of things that seemed ages past.

  Shigeru and Ritsuko began loudly discussing the report, which intruded on her dreams. She walked away, wroth, towards where Makoto Hyuga was working on something feverishly. She put her hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her for a moment, and then hurriedly covered the screen in front of him with a comic book.

  "Sorry, Captain!" he blurted and, picking up a nearby pad book began pretending to work furiously. Misato looked at him in surprise. Makoto hadn't acted like this before. He was usually calm and sensible, and a great assistant tactical officer – not a bumbling twit.

  And he was a lousy actor.

  Misato smiled shyly and bent down to look him in the face.

  "What are you up to, Hyuga?" she asked coyly. He avoided her stare.

  "Oh, nothing…really, nothing," he quailed, trying to appear calm. But Misato could see sweat beading on his forehead.

  Misato grinned wider, and leant over to remove the comic.

  "Then you won't mind if I read this then!" she exclaimed, removing it.

  Makoto's heart leapt into his chest.

  Misato began reading the screen out loud.

"Ode To Hooters 

Tits are such good fun.

I wanna squeeze 'em one-by-one,

Nibbling on them is so yum.

Tits are such good fun.

OH how I love her breasts.

Like giant, jingly castanets,

Like two blimps stuck to her chest.

Oh how I love her breasts."

  _(In reality – of the story – this would be a very sweet and heartfelt poem, which would suit the moment really well and probably win me an award or something, but due to the author's stupidity and ineptness at poetry, all that could be put here was some dribble. You'll have to provide the imagination for it to work out.)_

  Makoto shuffled uncomfortably in his chair as she finished reading it. Misato moved back from the screen with wide eyes, and he prepared for what was to come.

  "Did _you_ write that, Hyuga?" she asked.

  Makoto literally jumped in his chair.

  "No! No!" he exclaimed quickly, and then reconsidered.

  "Well, yes. Yes, I did."

  Makoto Hyuga was petrified out of his mind. It was the moment he'd been waiting for.

  "That's really good!" Misato said.

  Makoto stared at her in amazement. It wasn't what he'd been expecting.

  "Who's it for?" she asked him, looking straight into his face. Makoto decided to take the cowards' way out – looking away from her.

  "It's…uh…for my mother. She's not well," he stammered. Misato laughed loudly, launching his heart back into his throat. She laughed for a few seconds – not a teasing laugh but one of innocent amusement – and then looked at him again with a sly grin, which made him feel funny.

  "Makoto, that's a _love _poem," she told him, moving closer to him so that her breath tickled his face. Makoto felt his heart would simply burst.

  Misato continued looking him in the eyes.

  "So, who's the lucky girl?"

  Makoto was now in a trance. He knew this was **it** – this was the moment of truth. This was the moment that defined men and boys.

  This was **his **moment.

  He knew it in his heart and soul.

  But as usual, his heart failed him.

  "Oh, err – you wouldn't know her," he murmured, looking down at his feet. Misato smiled wider and gave him a friendly pat on the back.

  "Well, good luck!" she said happily and skipped off in an air of total innocence.

  Makoto's heart his the floor. He sighed the sigh of a broken man and collapsed on the terminal in utter despair.

  Maya Ibuki had been watching the entire episode. She giggled to herself, looking at Makoto with sympathy.

  Makoto closed his eyes. The metal of the console cooled his brow. Suddenly the screen n front of his face lit up with a beep. He read it and smiled.

  _Poor Hyuga!_

  He looked over to Maya, who winked at him then returned to work. He sighed a shorter, more relieved smile, then went back to his own work, vowing to win Misato one day.

  Misato walked up behind Shigeru and peered over his shoulder at the document he and Ritsuko were studying intently.

  _Gibberish!_

  She turned away and walked over to the coffee machine near Ritsuko. After pouring herself a cup she took a long sip. Her mind began to slow to a daydream state.

  "It's been a long day," she said to herself.

  "Well has it now? You know that stuff stunts your growth," Isamu said as he walked past, poking her in the ribs. He stopped in front of her, smiling stupidly.

  Misato slapped him lightly across the face. He looked at her confusedly and rubbed his cheek.

  "What was that for?" he asked.

  Misato looked at him seriously, holding the cup up to her face.

  "You know I hate that." She said, and then sipped again.

  "Well I'll make sure I do it more often!" Isamu exclaimed and began laughing like he'd just made the funniest joke ever.

  Misato looked at him in disbelief.

  _Idiot_

  She waited for him to calm down again before trying to continue the conversation.

  "Well, what have you been up to Isamu-Chan?"

  Isamu shrugged.

  "Not much really."

  "What about school? Settling in ok?" she asked, sipping her coffee again.

  "Yeah, it's ok. The other students are nice to me."

  "Good," she replied and ruffled his hair. Isamu laughed and pushed her hand away. Shigeru walked past them on his way back to his post. Isamu jogged over to him.

   "Hey ugly, watcha doin'?" Isamu asked.

  Shigeru sat down and gave him a high-five.

  "Getting in trouble, Shorty," he replied, nodding towards Ritsuko.

  "I want that done right away, Lieutenant," Ritsuko reminded him.

  "Yes, Dr. Akagi," Shigeru said, looking a little surprised she heard him. He waved Isamu away and went back to work.

  "Isamu, have you memorised the emergency power stations around the city yet?" she said, still browsing a document on her clipboard.

  Isamu blushed.

  "Uh, well no – not yet," he said timidly, digging his feet in the imaginary dust. Misato found it very unsurprising – he'd always been a lazy kid.

  "Well, get it done!" Ritsuko scolded him.

  "Yes Ritsu, my dear," Isamu replied graciously, bowing low even though she wasn't looking. He turned back to Misato.

  "Where's Shinji?"

  Misato sipped again, trying to remember.

  "At the pools."

  Isamu gave her a slight bow, which she returned in good humour.

  "I'll see you later," he farewelled, running towards the elevator, blowing a kiss to Ritsuko as he went. Misato waved to him then finished her coffee.  As he reached the elevator, the doors opened. Isamu stopped fast and looked up into the face of Gendou Ikari. Isamu stood still for a moment, looking up at the Commander in surprise. The Commander looked back at him with what could be only closely described as disgust. Isamu finally moved away.

  "S – sorry, sir," he apologised, looking down at his feet. 

   The Commander said nothing, and walked past him towards Ritusko. Isamu watched his back for a moment and then remembered the elevator. He jumped through the doors just as they began to close and gave Misato a last wave before he was hidden from view.

  Misato watched him go uneasily. Seeing the way Commander Ikari looked at him made her feel…well, feel odd. And Ritsuko was still acting very much unlike her usual self as well.

  Commander Ikari approached Ritusko.

  "I wish to speak with you alone Dr. Akagi," he said bluntly. His voice made all the other noises of the Command Centre fade away.

  Ritsuko finally looked up over the rims of her glasses at him.

*              *              *

  "Hey Shinji! Looky-looky!"

  Shinji turned away from Rei to look at Asuka who was watching him from the edge of the pool with her scuba gear on.

  She yelled "Back-roll entry!" and then tumbled backwards into the water.

  Shinji stared at where she'd just been, dumbstruck, then sighed with bewilderment before returning to his studies.

  The pools were almost absolutely silent. The silence helped Shinji feel calmer, and the gentle lapping of the water at the pools edge soothed him.

  He liked being alone.

  "Hey Shinji," Isamu said as he walked past him and sat at the far end of the table. Shinji immediately felt irritated at being interrupted, but he felt the better of it after a few moments. He also felt calm around Isamu…most of the time.

  "Hey Isamu," he replied irritably. Isamu gave him a hurt look.

  "Is something wrong? I didn't mean to intrude or anything," he apologised, getting up to leave. Shinji waved his hand in dismissal.

  No, it's quite alright."

  Isamu sat back down.

  "Thanks. What are you doing?"

  Shinji rest his head on his right hand to illustrate how bored he was.

  "Physics."

  Isamu looked at him in astonishment.

  "Really?"

  Shinji suddenly felt rather uncomfortable.

  "Yeah. Why?"

  Isamu sat back in his seat and stared into the water, his face as blank as a sheet.

  Shinji began feeling very uncomfortable.

  "What?!"

  Isamu just stared into the water.

  "Wow," he said slowly, as if tasting the word.

  Shinji was now feeling extremely uncomfortable – so uncomfortable he was out of his seat.

  "WHAT?!"

  Isamu looked into his face, and then grinned madly.

  "Misato only told you last night about your test scores and here you are already studying! Amazing! Such conviction! Misato'll be over the moon."

  Shinji couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or just utterly stupid, so he just sat back down and mumbled a "Thank you."

  Isamu began looking around the room.

  "Why did you come down here to study?"

  Shinji smiled.

  "I find it relaxing here. It's quiet and away from people," he replied reflectively, looking around and listening to the silence.

  Isamu laughed.

  "Sure – I bet you were perving on Ayanami," he said and winked. Shinji's face contorted.

  "No! No, I didn't know she was here!" he exclaimed. Isamu patted the air as a sign he should settle down.

  "Shinji, it's ok. I was only joking. Don't be so pedantic. I'm not accusing you," he Isamu drawled, trying to look as relaxed as possible. To his surprise Shinji actually settled down and even smiled. Isamu supposed Shinji was getting used to him by now.

  _Good, he's beginning to relax._

  "How did you know she was here?" Shinji asked after a slight pause.

  "I ran into her on my way here," Isamu replied staring away at the far side of the room. He seemed to drift off a bit so Shinji just nodded and began studying again. After a while a splash caught Isamu's attention. He looked in its direction and noticed a shape in the water.

  "What's that?" he asked Shinji.

  Shinji looked up from his work at the shape and chuckled at his choice of words.

  "_That_ is Asuka," he informed Isamu, who became somewhat more interested. He looked at Shinji in wonder.

  "What on earth is she doing?"

  Shinji smiled and then began typing at his terminal again.

  "Scuba diving."

  Isamu gave him a sceptical look so he attempted to explain.

  "You see, since we didn't get to go to Okinawa she's…"

  "…Going scuba diving here," Isamu finished, nodding. Shinji nodded agreement.

  Isamu began rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Shinji found it amusing as he'd seen Ryohji Kahji do it before, though Ryohji actually had something on his chin to stroke. After a while Isamu seemed to reach a conclusion.

  "What a silly person."

  Shinji smiled and went back to work, while Isamu went back to staring at the water. Isamu was too dazed to hear Shinji get up, or notice a dark shape approaching in the water.

  "What are you doing here?" Asuka asked, though not accusingly. She had spotted Isamu some time ago. She felt a great urge to flaunt herself.

  "I'm talking to my friend," Isamu said in a 'matter-of-fact' way. He was trying very hard not to look at her body as she rested on the edge of the pool. He knew he must at all costs avoid looking at her…

  Asuka's breasts were resting on the edge of the pool.

  Isamu felt his face heat up and quickly looked away from her, hurting his neck. Asuka knew what he'd seen from his reaction.

  "I know – he's such an exemplary student," she yawned, purposely stretching her back so Isamu could get the…full view. "He's no fun."

  Isamu was drawn into the trap, sneaking a peek when he thought she wasn't looking. He once again turned his eyes to the far wall, clenching his teeth, as his face got hotter.

  Asuka saw him out of the corner of her eye and smiled slyly – she has him where she wanted him.

  "I guess so," Isamu said, his voice choked up. He could see what was happening.

  _Dammit! I'm so stupid!_

Asuka pushed herself back out into the water leaving only her head now above the surface. Her smile was growing larger by the second. She was enjoying this.

  Isamu could feel his teeth grinding themselves to pulp.

  "Would you like to come swimming?"

  Isamu's eyes hit the roof.

  "Err…" he said, gawking at her. She gave him the sultriest look he'd ever seen.

  Isamu felt **that** part of him waking up, and crossed his legs to hide it.

  _No! No! You're getting sucked in! _his mind warned him.

  That made him feel even randier.

  "No, thanks. I'll just…sit here," he said weakly, giving Asuka nervous glance.

  Asuka turned up her bottom lip and then turned and swam away, muttering "Pity," under her breath. She'd half wanted him to say 'Yes'.

  But Isamu didn't know that. When she was gone he punched the chair in rage. He'd been so easily defeated. He now knew he'd underestimated her.

  _One point to you, babe._

  He finally remembered his companion, and looked over to where he'd been sitting a moment ago.

  She'd chosen her time well.

  Shinji was nowhere to be seen. Isamu realised he'd been so swept up in thinking (or something close to it) he hadn't noticed Shinji's departure. When Shinji did return, he was holding a drink.

  "Sorry, you looked like you were really concentrating and I didn't want to disturb you," he apologised when he saw Isamu's expression.

  "Don't worry about it," Isamu replied impatiently, taking the proffered can. He opened it with one hand and took a swig from it. Shinji looked at him for a moment curiously then looked around the room.

  "Where's Asuka?"

  Isamu felt the remains of his teeth clench again.

  "No idea."

  Shinji looked at Isamu again.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing!" Isamu snapped, and then sighed in frustration. "Sorry."

  Shinji continued looking fearful for a little while, but said nothing.

  "I was just thinking about some boobs…I mean uh…jobs. Yeah, just some jobs I had to do," Isamu explained quietly, cursing himself for the mistake. Shinji grinned when he was sure Isamu wasn't looking.

  _So, he's having girl troubles! I bet it's some girl from school. Didn't take him long, did it? Must run in the family…_

  Shinji decided to keep quiet and went back to work, while Isamu sat in thought.

*              *              *

  "And me?" asked Rei.

  "The special equipment we will be using hasn't been standardised for the prototype," Maya replied, a little surprised.

  "Rei and Unit zero will remain here on standby," Ritsuko informed them all.

Rei seemed un-phased.  

"I see," she replied. Isamu glanced sidelong at her. He couldn't sense any sort of disappointment or anything from her.

  Asuka peered past Shinji and Isamu at Rei.

  "Aw, poor little Rei – she doesn't get to have any fun," she teased. Rei made no reply, but Shinji and Isamu shifted uncomfortably.

  _What an obnoxious bitch! _Isamu thought to himself, still sore about being outsmarted earlier. He looked at her angrily, along with Shinji and Maya.

  _How could anyone like her?_ Shinji thought. He noticed that even Ritsuko was shaking her head slightly, and then straightened up again.

  "EVA Units 1 and 3 will be on standby at the volcano to render assistance if necessary."

  Isamu snapped his fingers in disappointment.

  "Damn! My big debut and I'm playing second-fiddle to super-ego," he complained. Asuka growled audibly, while the others (except Rei) smiled.

  "You should privileged," Asuka told him quietly.

  Isamu rolled his eyes and muttered "Sure."

  Ritusko decided it was time to get the meeting back on course.

  "Now that an A-17 has been ordered we've got to roll out immediately."

  The four children snapped to attention and barked a unanimous "Roger!"

  As the huge transport planes ferried the three EVAs to the volcano, Isamu's communicator flicked on, presenting him with a shot of Misato's face. She was smiling happily – the first time all day. There was a great commotion in the background. Technicians were everywhere.

  "Your first mission," she said. Isamu smiled and gave her a thumbs up. To Misato he looked a bit nervous.

  "Excited?"

  "Yeah," he said soberly, trying to keep his cool as best he could. He reminded Misato of his father.

  She looked away momentarily and another two small screens opened up showing the other two pilots.

  "Get ready – we're almost there," Misato told them all.

  "Roger!"

  Misato gave them a reassuring smile then her screen winked out.

  "Wow – my first mission," Isamu said quietly to himself.

  "Enjoy it – just don't get in my way," Asuka warned him, then her screen disappeared as well.

  Shinji noticed his saddened expression, though mistook the reason.

  "Don't worry about her. She's a little…overwhelmed," he said cheerfully.

  Isamu looked at him and smiled in an overwhelming way.

  "Thanks Shinji."

  Shinji's screen winked out, leaving Isamu alone again.

  Well, almost.

  "Here we go, big buddy!" Isamu said, patting the wall of the tube like he would a friend's shoulder.

  Isamu rested back in his seat, and closed his eyes in silent meditation.

  "EVA Units 1, 2 and 3 have arrived."

  "What kind of jerk would order something like that?" Shinji yelled.

  Ritsuko replied in a 'you just answered your own question' way.

  "Commander Ikari."

  Shinji opened his mouth in surprise, and then sighed irritably. Isamu watched him from the communicator screen.

  "Hey, Shinji, look at this!" Asuka squealed, commanding attention. Isamu and Shinji both looked down at her.

  "Perfect scissor dive!" she narrated her own descent into the lava.

  Isamu looked on incredulously then shook his head. Shinji just stared bemusedly.

  "Asuka!" came Misato's commanding voice. Asuka looked up. "We're going to drop you Unit One's progressive knife! Stand ready!"

  "Understood," Asuka acknowledged, looking up, until a loud beep caught her attention.

  "Oh jeeze! Drop it now!" she shrieked as a form loomed out the darkness, obviously moving at speed.

  Shinji raised Unit One's arm to hurl down the knife in it's first.

  "Here it comes!" he shouted, but was cut short, as he was about to move by Isamu.

  "Hyah!" he yelled as he flung Alphonse's knife into the lava from nearby.

  "Isamu!" Misato screamed in anger when she realised what had happened. "This isn't a damn game!"

  "Why the hell do you think I threw it? You said she needed a knife!" he said impatiently, looking down into the lava lake.

  Misato stopped in mid-reply, realising she'd misjudged him. She had thought at first he'd done it to get his own share of the action.

  But he hadn't

  _He did it for her._

  Misato cursed herself for being harsh.

  "Sorry Shinji," Isamu said, all element or humour gone in his voice.

  Shinji looked at him – or more looked at EVA-03 – in disbelief. He had been taken by surprise.

  "D – don't worry bout it."

  Maya looked up sharply from the read-out in front of her. Sweat was rolling down her brow.

  "The coolant pipes are torn. She can't survive much longer."

  Misato looked at her in disbelief. Ritsuko put her head in her hands and Makoto looked at the life sings read-out sadly.

  Misato lunged for the communicator panel.

  "Asuka!" she screamed in despair,

  "Ma'am, it's no use."

  Misato collapsed in tears.

  Shinji looked down at the magma, thinking he had to save her.

  He looked over at EVA-03.

  It wasn't there.

  Asuka looked up at the distant surface.

  "That's it – I'm done for," she murmured.

  _So this is what knowing you're about to die feels like_ she thought as she heard the Type-D armour beginning to crumple in on itself and the last pipe tare.

  Slowly EVA-02 began to sink into the unknown depths, to be lost forever.

  Asuka clenched her teeth and eyes as she waited for the end, but suddenly EVA-02 lurched.  "What the…" she said, as she began looking around, and then finally up.

  Two white eyes looked back at her.

  _EVA-03?_

  Asuka smiled a relieved smile.

                *              *              *

  Shinji, Asuka and Misato stood before the hot-baths, already sweating with anticipation. To Shinji it seemed like the perfect end to the mission – he felt he deserved a happy ending for once.

  Even though the company wasn't the greatest.

  "Oh, but I need to change!" Asuka whined. She was picking irritably at her plug suit. "This is all hot and sweaty!"

  Misato almost knocked Shinji's eyes out of his head when she gave him a congratulatory slap on the back (he'd been watching Asuka).

  "Well, here we are – like I promised!" she announced. Shinji gave her a weak smile. She smiled at him and rubbed his hair.

  "Let's go in."

  The trio began making their way over to the building. The faint scent of body shampoo crept into Shinji's nose. He inhaled the smell, and felt better. Then something dawned on him.

  "Where are Isamu and Rei?" he asked.

  Misato stopped dead and began looking around.

  Asuka kept walking.

  "I saw Isamu a moment ago, I could've sworn," Misato said to herself.

  "Who cares where they are?" Asuka said, having now reached the doors. She turned around and glowered at them with her hands on her hips. 

  Misato looked at her sourly, then shook her head and followed her through the doors. Shinji by himself a moment, thinking, then hurried after them, reaching the doors just as a delivery truck pulled up…

*              *              *

Isamu looked down at his feet. He could tell Ritsuko was not impressed.

  "You're dismissed, Rei," she said sharply.

  Rei silently turned and left, walking away towards the entrance to the EVA cage. Isamu watched her go, until she disappeared around the corner.

  Now he and Ritusko were alone on the umbilical bridge I front of a rather sad looking Alphonse. Most of his armour was melted beyond recognition.

  _Sorry buddy_ Isamu apologised.

  Alphonse didn't reply.

  Isamu wasn't enjoying standing there. He could tell he was in trouble.

  When the EVAs had returned to NERV, Ritsuko had led him to the waiting room and ordered him to wait there. Isamu supposed she'd been debriefing Rei.

  And then he'd been summoned to the cage to await his own 'debriefing'.

  At least in the waiting room he could get a drink.

  Ritusko circled him slowly, looking at him. Isamu squirmed uncomfortably. He couldn't even remember her being angry with him before. He wasn't even sure why she was angry.

  Ritusko stopped walking when she reached the side of the bridge furthest from Alphonse, and looked out over the coolant reservoir.

  "What did you think you were doing out there?" she asked suddenly, startling him.

  "W – what?" he replied. He still had no idea what it was about.

  Ritusko spun around in a flash and looked at him.

  "Listen hotshot – we do things as ordered here! We don't have time for ego-trips or heroics! Asuka accepted the risk of becoming an EVA pilot like you did! If you can't do as you're told then leave now!" she screamed at him. She paused to receive a reply from him but got none. Isamu was too petrified to speak. He stood totally still, looking at her with open eyes.

  "Do I make myself clear?!"

  Isamu recoiled in fear, holding his hands up in front of his face.

  "Y- yes!" he whimpered.

  It was her stare that frightened him the most. The look in her eyes was far more telling than any words. It alone was enough to make him shrink away.

  _I never knew she had so much pain._

  Suddenly her eyes softened and she quickly turned away from him.

  "Get out of here," she said, her voice beginning to waver.

  Isamu was too confused and frightened to move away. He took a step towards her, about to offer her help. But he was cut short with kind words on his tongue.

  "NOW!" she ordered and Isamu thought he caught a teary muffle to it.

  Isamu began walking backwards away from her, then turned and ran, leaving Ritusko alone with her tears.

_After-note: You may have noticed how 'horny' (for lack of a better word) this fan-fic has gotten, not much mention how silly. I assure you this is just a phase brought about by the author needing to release built up anxiety from school (or possibly thinking with genitals too much) and that this isn't about to become some weird hentai crap or an episode of Monty Python, though it could get a lot worse before it gets better…_


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